Turned On
by Black Waltz 0
Summary: [PSIV] Chaz loves Rika, but he is way too shy to admit it to her in person. When he goes to a friend for help things take a turn in the opposite direction. Chaz has to figure out exactly what he wants, before his last chance is gone forever. [Sai]
1. Lovesickness

Turned On

A Phantasy Star IV Shonen-ai By

Black Waltz 0

(A/N: Okay, if you're reading this here and now chances are that you're going to flame me to high hell for this fic. Chances also are that you're either a Phantasy Star fan, or a shonen-ai fan. Just by looking at the title you can probably tell what this fic is going to be about. It might be deeply disturbing for you. On the other spectrum of things, you might enjoy it very much. If you don't like shonen-ai situations involving an android, you might not want to read this. Only one way to find out, huh?

… Please don't hurt me.)

xxx

Rika was so beautiful, Chaz thought.

She was asleep and curled up in her sleeping bag, beside Rune, Kyra and the empty bag that was reserved for himself. It was incredibly cute in the way that she tried to huddle up into a warm little ball, like a napping cat, trying to tuck her knees up beneath her chin. The sleeping bag prevented her from doing that properly but she was still making a decent effort nonetheless. It was freezing cold in the place that they had decided to camp out at, Chaz hoped that Rika wasn't feeling too chilly. Rune and Kyra seemed to be sleeping like babies, but they were natives to this land and were used to its climate. He and Rika were not.

They had chosen to set up camp in the first room of the Weapons Plant, stationed secretly in the heartland of Dezoris. The doors of the facility had been locked tightly and no biomonsters would be able to force their way in without the entire party knowing about it. It was safe and much warmer in there compared to the outside, and the only real threat came from the off-chance that a hostile machine from deeper inside the Plant would come up to the surface for a breath of fresh air. That chance was a very rare one, but he and his friends had fallen back on a sentry duty all the same.

The group took shifts in waiting out the night, split into four sections of early evening, late evening, early morning and late morning. Each section lasted for about three hours and there was always one lucky person who didn't have to participate. The roster shifted and revolved each night. Tonight Chaz had been placed into the late evening shift, between Wren and Kyra. Rika was the lucky one out for the moment, she didn't have to wake up at all until the sun rose. As for himself, he had three hours lonely hours of absolute boredom to look forward to. He was waiting for Wren to finish his shift so that he could get his over with.

For now, Chaz was kneeling close to Rika's still form, watching the Numan sleep. Her face was relaxed and gentle, framed by her amazingly pink and beautiful hair. He could hear her soft breathing every time her chest rose to take breath, even above the formidable snoring that Kyra seemed to be making from inside her own sleeping bag. He was fortunate, she would be at sentry by the time that Chaz was ready to nod off to sleep. He wouldn't have to put up with her snores. Thank God for small favors.

Hesitantly, almost with fear, Chaz reached his hand down and lightly ran his fingers through Rika's soft hair, the bright strands feeling like something he had never felt before. Silk, maybe. How he had longed to do this to her while she was still awake, aware of the way that he felt and loving him for it. She was so lovely and yet so smart and witty, the best of both worlds. Chaz didn't think that Rika deserved a confused child such as himself as a partner, but still, he wished that things were different. He wished that he had the courage to admit to her how he felt, but he was also terrified of the way she might respond to it. If she laughed at him Chaz would have just died from embarrassment and shame.

Touching her, kissing her, loving her, - it was all just a pipe dream, but one that he desperately hoped would come true. Chaz pulled his fingertips from Rika's hair that he had been unconsciously stroking in thought. Looking at her Chaz couldn't help but be reminded of a cat, graceful, lithe, wise, and above all, potentially deadly. That was Rika down to the smallest detail. He had been stroking Rika's hair in the same way that one would pet a tamed feline, prompting it to purr. Would she purr for him if he did this to her while awake? Chaz bit his lip and pushed the renegade thoughts away. It was only a hopeless tease.

What Chaz needed most of all was confidence, something that he had in short supply since the death of his mentor. He may have been saving Algo from a great, vile darkness, but deep down Chaz Ashley was just a sixteen year old boy, grappling with normal teenage problems. How could he tell the girl he desired that he liked her? Maybe even loved her? It was all so _hard_…

He brushed the back of his hand gently against her cheek. She felt warm, warmer than he. That was good, she wouldn't catch a chill. Smiling in a way that only the foolishly smitten could achieve, Chaz looked up, into the dark corridor that stretched out before his eyes, awaiting the sound of footsteps that would come from the darkness. Slowly the smile drained from his face.

He mustn't have heard Wren approach. The android was standing there in the middle of the corridor, half hidden in the shadows. He had his arms folded across his front and was staring at Chaz in what he thought to be a severely disapproving way. It had always seemed slightly disturbing to Chaz in the way that Wren rarely blinked. Always those cool steely eyes seemed to be watching, calculating, processing. His expression was completely blank.

Had he been watching Chaz as the youth thought of Rika? More than likely. It was no secret that the android had almost a paternal fondness for her, as Wren had been half responsible for her education and upbringing. He and Seed had had been both her parents and her teachers. Chaz stood up from his kneeling position and blushed a little, rubbing the back of his neck. Rika sighed deeply and rolled over as he moved. "Uh, how long have you been standing there?" He asked in a low quaver, remembering to keep his voice down so the others would not wake up.

Fortunately Wren was also mindful of his volume. Without the slightest change passing over his face he replied in a deep soft murmur; "Long enough."

"I'm sorry." Chaz said, not knowing what else to say. He wasn't really sure how much Wren knew about the Palman nature of infatuation, but he had to at least know about a little bit, in order to be able to effectively interact with people. He guessed that if any man arrived to see his daughter-figure being fawned over by an adolescent teen that would be more than enough reason to fly into an angry rage. Back in Aiedo he had seen horrible domestic disputes waged over practically the same things. But all Wren was doing was looking at him, just staring. The silence in the room became uncomfortable. Chaz decided to try and change the subject. "Well, I'll take over sentry now…" He whispered anxiously, stepping over Rika carefully and moving towards him.

He wasn't going to be getting away that easily. Chaz leant over briefly to pick up his sheathed sword that was lying against his open bedroll, the laconia hilt glittering in the low light. When Chaz got to Wren he didn't move aside to allow him to pass, he stood there firmly, like an unmovable obstacle. It didn't feel right to Chaz to just sneak around him, and it looked like Wren had something significant to say. He expected a scolding. It was what Alys would have done. "I think we need to have a serious discussion, Chaz. It is most important that we do."

Wren stepped aside and held his arm out in the direction of the corridor's end, where the sentry was meant to stand guard. He wouldn't lose any sleep by staying awake a little while longer, indeed Wren had no need for sleep, so Chaz had no way to decline the forced invitation. What else could he do? The youth sighed, giving up. At least with Wren around he'd have somebody else to talk to. "Okay." He muttered and belted his scabbard against his hip, beginning to walk away.

He could hear the android walking close behind him, maybe a little too close for comfort. He was kind of afraid of what this discussion would be about, if it would be any worse than the time Alys had educated him on the birds and the bees. He had gone to bed that night goggle-eyed and wondering why the heck people would want to do things like that to each other. Now that he was much older he could figure out why. That was what had landed him in this mess in the first place, and he doubted Wren would be very understanding.

They sat down very close to the entrance of the Weapons Plant, resting their backs against the wall. A few minutes of awkward silence streamed by the both of them, tickling Chaz at the base of his neck until he could take it no more and he shot a sidelong look at Wren. He had his hands laced in his lap and his eyes were closed. It almost looked like he was meditating. He wasn't going to talk until Chaz started up first and the hunter knew quite well who would last the longest. He opened his mouth. "I-" He began.

"You and Rika have gone through much together, haven't you?" Wren said quietly, effectively cutting Chaz off at the same time. "I believe that you are both very good friends. That is how I choose to perceive it. But I wonder about your strange activity lately Chaz, my friend. I have noted it on several occasions. Is there something wrong with you? Are you ill? Is Rika ill, and that is why you fret over her? Not knowing worries me very much."

Whatever excuse Chaz was going to make to the android faded from his tongue. Wren wasn't mad, he was worried, afraid that there was something seriously wrong with Rika or Chaz himself. To a machine lovesickness and real physical sickness mustn't seem too different from one another. Chaz was tempted to admit that he really _was_ sick and he'd be able to explain away his odd behavior in that manner, but when it came down to things he would have felt bad about lying to Wren. He had already experienced a weight falling from his conscience knowing that Wren wasn't angry with him. He felt more at ease now.

"You don't have to be so worried. Rika and I aren't sick. There's nothing wrong with her, and as for me, well, I know the problem is all up in my head. It's nothing, really." Chaz reassured his friend, relieved. The three hours of guard duty didn't seem so horrible anymore. He would be blissfully asleep by midnight and tomorrow there'd be a bran new day to look forward to.

"Psychological illnesses can sometimes be the most deadly." Wren informed the hunter calmly, refusing to drop the subject. "Chaz, you have been the backbone of this party since the very beginning, before Kyra, Rune, Rika or myself became a part of it. I could imagine that you have seen some truly terrible events since then. Just remember that as the backbone of this group you have but one responsibility; to stand strong despite all adversity. If you fall from some variety of psychological illness then we shall all fall as well. It would be a… an unfortunate way to fail."

Now he was jumping to the conclusion that Chaz was suffering from shell shock. Did he have a list of battle-related illnesses in his mind and was he going through them one by one? The youth wouldn't have been surprised. He doubted that the correct one would be on Wren's list, though. "No, that's not it." Chaz argued, shaking his head negatively. Of course he feared some battles, particularly the more difficult ones, but that was only natural. Everybody got afraid at times, even if they didn't let on about it. His thoughts traveled to Rune and Alys, wondering what they had feared. Chaz would never know.

"Then I am afraid I am out of guesses. I am not an expert on Palman behavioral patterns, but I am familiar enough to know that something is very wrong with you. Wouldn't it be simpler if you told me what your illness is rather than letting me guess about it? I am aware that it does pass the time quite well, but it is, as you Palmans call it, quite annoying."

What harm would it do to tell Wren the truth? He knew there was nobody else in his party that he would dare talk to. Speaking to Rika was absolutely out of the question, obviously, while Kyra would probably laugh at him and offer him some joking sisterly advice. He had only known Kyra for a few weeks at the most and it irked him how she already seemed to assume everything about him, as if Chaz's nature had been set in stone. Rune would be worse. Chaz didn't want to even _think_ about what the arrogant esper would have to say regarding Chaz's lack of a love life.

In the end it seemed like Wren was really the only one that Chaz could talk to regarding his problems. Wren only appeared to feel the most basic emotions and his personality was defined by a simple lack of one, so Wren would not judge him, would not laugh at him, would not belittle him, either. It would be like talking to a wall, but a wall that just might answer back. If Wren did answer him it would be to offer him help, because he was built that way. Wren had been designed and programmed to assist.

"I have lovesickness, Wren. That's what my problem is. After all the fighting and wandering about and starving when the food is low, and freezing or sweating to death when we're too far away to sleep in an inn bed, it's lovesickness that's really gotten to me. In the beginning I thought it was transference of the good feelings I got off Alys when she was always there for me, but after awhile I realised that I was wrong. I wasn't noticing Rika just because I was trying to replace the strong female role model in my life, it was because I was honest to goodness attracted to her. I think I really like her, but I just don't know where to go from here that'll be safe for my… my feelings. How do I know she won't make fun of me for it?"

As Chaz spoke it felt like he was steadily emptying a deep heavy pocket inside himself, pouring away all the cumbersome burden. He was looking hopefully at Wren for answers, yet the android was only staring at the wall on the other side of the corridor, giving Chaz the impression that he wasn't listening, yet he _was_, all too deeply. The hunter knew that he needed to stop in order to get an answer but he couldn't right now, not until he had gotten everything off his chest.

"I'd love it if Rika liked me back, but there's also an equal - no, a _greater_ chance that she'll think I'm just being a stupid kid, or that I'm pulling a practical joke on her, or worse. I guess you don't know how it would feel to admit your deepest feelings and not be taken seriously, but _I_ think I know how it would feel. I don't want to have to experience it, I'd avoid it in any way that I could."

Wren waited patiently until Chaz had stopped talking, then gave him one extra minute just in case something else came to mind. There was no point in talking if he was going to be constantly interrupted. Satisfied at the silence he very soothingly gave Chaz the reply that he sought. He didn't break his gaze away from the wall. "This lovesickness that you experience is a voluntary ailment. You can remove it at any time that you please, you simply choose not to. It is not the emotions that you feel for Rika that is hurting you, rather it is the indecision and the vague notion that you may be missing out on a great happiness. Am I correct?"

The directness in Wren's words was shocking. In all honesty Chaz had expected him not to be able to answer. That was the only reason he had admitted the truth in the first place. "It's…" he spluttered, "it's a lot more than that! I can't live like this, not knowing what I should do, but I _know_ that I can't talk to her! I just can't! The risk of ruining everything would be too great. I might create a rift that'd tear this party apart. The most important thing that we have is each other. That's why I keep on putting up with Rune. We need him, and we need Rika too. Everybody here is invaluable."

"Perhaps I do not understand Palmans as well as others do, but I do not think I would be speaking false if I were to say that I am the individual here best inclined to unbiased reason." Wren did not smile at this, but Chaz got the feeling that if Wren gave his smiles away more freely he would have been treated to one right then. "You can either continue to torture yourself and become overrun by this lovesickness that you talk of, or you can speak to Rika just as you have spoken to me. How do you feel at the moment, now that we have had this discussion?"

He was a good debater, Chaz had to give him that. The youth sighed, deflating and looking at the patch of floor between his crossed legs. "I feel better." He admitted in a breathy tone, deciding to let Wren run the conversation from now on. "Much, _much_ better than I felt before."

"Yet I am only a placebo to your illness. Speaking with Rika is the cure, she will either cure you or kill you. I believe that you judge her too harshly. I have known her all her life. She is a good girl." Wren paused there, thinking, perhaps wondering if there was any more that he should say. The android raised one metal hand slowly, looking at it to reaffirm the fact that he was so fundamentally different to his friend. "…I do not really know what love is. It is my belief that I am meant to never know. I think this allows me to analyze your problem the most effectively. I hope I was able to help you."

A seemingly eternal life-span without any hope for love or closeness. Chaz couldn't even begin to imagine what that would feel like, that kind of empathy was as closed off to him as the notion of lovesickness was closed off to Wren. It must be incredibly lonely. "Yeah, you helped a lot. I still don't really know what I should do about Rika and I, but having everything that I'm going through repeated back to me kind of, I dunno, puts everything back into perspective. At the very least I feel better that I've talked to somebody, so I don't have to go crazy worrying about this while nobody else knows. You're not going to tell anybody, right? Especially Rika?"

"The thought had never crossed my mind."

Chaz relaxed. "Thanks. You know, I thought you had followed me here because you were going to give me a lecture or yell at me or something. I thought you'd be mad at me because Rika was your student and you helped Seed to raise her. I thought you'd be like an angry father." Now that Chaz considered it this way he realised that his earlier assumption had been a silly one. He couldn't imagine Wren being physically angry with anyone, even in the most heated and complicated of battles he was perfectly collected.

"Rika's life belongs to herself now, not to the memory of Seed or I. She can live it in any way that she chooses and I have no say in the matter. If you really do love her, all I can be is pleased for you. When all our journeys have come to an end it would not be fitting for her to wind up all alone. Besides, Chaz…" Wren had been looking towards the sleeping bundle that contained the pink-haired Numan, but then he turned back to the young hunter and actually smiled. It wasn't a big smile, but it was something. "I do not get mad. I get even."

In the few short seconds before Chaz got the subtle joke he half expected Wren to add; _'And if you ever hurt her just the slightest bit, I will rip the flesh from your bones.'_ He blinked once, feeling a sick shiver run through his body, but then he finally made the mental connection and suddenly grinned. Of course. "Raja's been teaching you proverbs again, hasn't he? God, don't tell me we're going to end up with _two_ jokers in the party! He hasn't been teaching you any bad words too, has he?"

The android considered. "No, he has merely been informing me of local colloquialisms. I find them most interesting. I hope we can expel the source of the Black Energy Wave soon, because it would be a shame for him to die. I still have much to learn and Raja has told me to be more open about new things. Maybe that's why I want to help you now, despite this all being relatively foreign to me."

"Alright then. So, if you were in my position what would _you_ do in my place?" The hunter asked, genuinely curious.

This was a thoroughly difficult question for Wren to answer. He wasn't equipped with that kind of insight to imagine himself in the place of a Palman. It was beyond him, but he tried anyway. The android _did_ have a program that substituted for imagination, but it would only be a pale reflection of a living being's mind. Wren answered carefully and with deliberation, as if his mind was lagged down with the effort.

"I would tell Rika how I felt. Even if she took the information badly there would always be the chance for a reconciliation. Any sort of progress is better than no progress at all. Even if it hurt, organic creatures always have the opportunity to heal. If she took the information positively I would be happy and my lovesickness would be gone. I would give her a kiss and all would be well. That is what I would do if I were Chaz Ashley."

He was imagining the events but not the emotions behind it. Wren would have been incapable of that and Chaz still saw the entire idea as far too daunting. The hunter clasped his hands about his ankles and shook his head again. "I can't do it. I really can't." He knew that he sounded like a broken record but he couldn't help himself. "I've never had to do stuff like that before, I just know I'll get tongue-tied and mess it all up. I've never even _kissed_ anybody before. I don't know how it's done. I should know by now but I don't." The life of a hunter didn't leave much chance for romantic opportunity. Although Chaz was sixteen he still felt like a little kid.

Wren was silent beside him. Chaz could feel his cheeks burning hotly beneath his skin and his hands were squeezing his ankles firmly, venting his embarrassment through the pressure. Was _that_ all that was keeping him back? What a dumb explanation. What bugged him the most was that it was the truth. "Stupid, huh?" Chaz sighed, ashamed of himself.

The other person spoke. "No. It is not stupid."

Something extremely cold lightly touched the side of Chaz's neck. The boy jumped a little at the unexpected sensation and turned towards it on reflex, yet he was unaware that he was being guided by that same coldness. It was Wren's cool metal hand, gently cupping the side of his neck and the curve of his jaw. It was like being splashed by ice water, he tilted Chaz's head towards his own and touched him with his other hand, holding the boy perfectly captive. Chaz was greatly confused, the android had never done anything like this before. He was staring at him again, like he was a complex problem that he urgently needed to solve. "Wren?" The words tried to stick in his throat. "What are you-"

Chaz couldn't talk anymore as the dark-haired machine leant over, sealing the distance between themselves, and pressed his lips against his. Wren had closed his eyes in the middle of the motion but Chaz's eyes were as wide as saucers, unable to pull or even look away. Wren was too strong for him. His body was as tense as a drawn bow string, his arms came up to grapple with Wren's much larger ones but they were unmoving and devilishly cold, unpleasant to touch. The feel of the cold against his fingertips forced Chaz to become aware of something else as well, something even more amazing and terrifying.

Although his hands and arms were astoundingly cold, Wren's lips were warm and soft, just like a living being. Faint breath from his nose gently tickled Chaz's face. How about that, Wren could respire when he wanted to. There was a definite warmth there, one that Chaz could feel seeping into him from the kiss. There was no other explanation. He actually felt _alive_.

Slowly the android pulled away and lowered his arms from Chaz's body, as soon as he did that Chaz felt like running away, _wanted_ to run away, but his stupid unresponsive body remained glued to the floor, as frozen as a wax figure. Wren placed his hands back into his lap and resumed his previous position, except that this time he had the tiniest trace of a smile just at the corner of his mouth. What had just happened? Wren had kissed him. _Wren_. The _android_.

He blinked frantically for a few moments, in the chances that this was all some kind of crazy dream. He had probably just fallen asleep at his post, that was all. He didn't want to think that his very first kiss had been stolen by an android, by an unfeeling machine. It made him feel violated and his lips were tingling after such a contact. He wanted to shout but was afraid that he would wake everybody up. "You… kissed me…" Chaz breathed, pressing a hand to his mouth, his eyes still wide.

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Wren said coolly, speaking as if the task was so common that Chaz requested it to be done every day. He didn't really know what Chaz was so surprised about. In Palman culture kissing was common, that was what his database said. "You wanted to know how it was done, and I have shown you. Aren't you satisfied with that?"

"Well, yeah, I wanted to know that… but not in _that_ way! What the heck, Wren? Guys aren't supposed to kiss other guys, you should know that!" Chaz reasoned deliriously, his head spinning while he heard himself raise his voice a little too loudly. He couldn't help it, just as he couldn't help his deepening blush and the way that he was shaking. He couldn't wrap his mind around what had just happened.

"If you wish to get technical I have no discernable gender to speak of. My structural design was modeled after a Palman male and my thought processes adjusted accordingly, but in the end I am just a simple android. The correct reference to my presence is 'it', though I have grown accustomed to being called a 'he'. I am sorry, Chaz. I did not mean to alarm you." He had sounded like a real automaton as he had recited away those useless facts, but when it came to his apology Wren sounded sincere. When he glanced at Chaz the youth could see the honesty briefly in his usually blank eyes.

Now Chaz felt sort of guilty for yelling at him. Wren was right, he was only an android and probably didn't know any better. Besides, it had been a good kiss, even if it had been a little frightening. He didn't have anything else to compare it to but it had still felt good. "It's alright. But if you wanted me to know how it was done, why didn't you just explain it to me in words, rather than… uh, showing me?" He muttered into his chest, refusing to look up at his companion. Now things would be awkward between them for a very long time.

Wren considered Chaz's question in a torturously slow amount of time. It felt like Wren was trying to tease him, trying to put ants in his pants or perhaps to further draw out this long uncomfortable moment. Forget the birds and the bees, this was the pits. The hunter had a small inkling that the android didn't quite know the answer himself. When Wren spoke, it was in a thoughtful and introspective tone. "I believe," he whispered, "that you were not the only one interested in the subject. I was curious, too. In the nine hundred and ninety eight years of my life span I have never kissed another before. I thought that it was high time that I did."

At last Chaz found feeling in his legs once more. They felt like they were made of limp noodles but he stood up anyway. Wren didn't follow him, he just looked up at the youth pleasantly. It was one of the rare occasions in which he actually felt tall. He wanted to get mad and yell at him until the strange feeling inside of him was gone, but whenever his anger tried to step forward and charge it continued to get tangled up in his fear, dumbstruck and not quite knowing why it was there. Chaz was not in danger but he still felt afraid.

He muttered a pathetic excuse to Wren and fled from his sentry duty, saying something about narcolepsy and that his sword needed polishing. He didn't care how fake the excuse sounded or how obvious it would be to Wren that his apology had meant nothing to Chaz, all he wanted to do was to get away. He moved as quickly and as quietly as he could back to the campsite and dove into his sleeping bag without first removing his armor or his sword, something that he deeply regretted later. Wren didn't pursue him. He quietly and patiently took over Chaz's sentry duty without so much as a word.

Dropping off to sleep was hard with Kyra snoring nearby. Chaz lay there with one hand over his mouth as if it had been infected, unable to get to sleep and just listening to the unbroken silence. Why had Wren kissed him? Because he wanted to. If it had been any other reason Chaz could have accepted that, but _want_ was not a necessity. Wren had done it because he felt like it, and Wren rarely did things that weren't dire or essential. Perhaps, for maybe just a moment Chaz had seen something behind Wren's blank exterior and it had scared him.

He knew it had gone past midnight when he heard Wren's footsteps enter the campsite. There was a pause, then some quiet murmuring made in his deep soft voice. Chaz heard the snores abruptly stop and then listened to Kyra groan, the esper pulling the sleeping bag back over her head, like a turtle retreating into her shell. More words, then Kyra muttered something lowly under his breath and stood up, stretching and yawning.

The hunter's consciousness faded away some moments after that, sleep tenderly taking away his mind and submerging it into a deep thick blackness, a night of no dreams.

Chaz slept, all his problems temporarily silenced.


	2. Air Castle

For a long time after that night Chaz avoided Wren for as long and as often as he could, silently assisting in combat whenever he was needed and offering only a minimal amount of communication, consisting of one word answers and noncommittal grunts. He was not avoiding Wren because he was angry or overly afraid of him, although there was a small part of Chaz that definitely _did_ feel those emotions. It was simply because he wasn't certain how he could deal with the situation, just as he couldn't deal with his situation involving Rika.

After all, Wren had kissed him. He had kissed him like he was an unclaimed girl at a county fair, a kiss that had been sweet and innocent, but not hesitant. It was almost like he had been _waiting_ for an opportunity to do that to him, but of course that was absolutely preposterous, wasn't it? Chaz thought it was, but he still couldn't rid the strange hot/cold sensation that he had felt that night completely out of his head. The only thoughts that pushed that memory away were thoughts of Rika and what she meant to him, but that was an entirely different snake's nest altogether. The confusion about Wren would always subside, but then the ache of lovesickness would sink into his mind all over again. It was like he had to choose between two different pains before the both of them drove him mad.

Worried confusion to him always seemed better than the aches of unrequited love. At least it took his mind off the numan girl and allowed him to function again at a semi-normal state, except for his coldness towards Wren that the others easily noticed and a new nervous habit that he now bore, surfacing whenever he was brooding or in deep thought.

Rika observed it at times when he was on sentry duty or passing time in the ice digger, that he would sometimes reached his hand up to his mouth and brush his fingertips over his lips briefly, a motion that seemed to be entirely unconscious to him. He was obsessing over something, a thought that was bothering him deep inside. Rika was all ready to go over there and coax it out of him, with her claws if need be, but there was something about him that seemed to suggest that he wasn't thinking about her, not at all.

As for Wren, if he took any notice to Chaz's strange behavior and the cold shoulder that he was giving him, he chose not to show it. He fought in their party just as he always did, accepted Rune and Kyra's navigation as he drove them across Dezoris as he always did, and let Chaz have whatever space that he wanted. He had a large responsibility on his shoulders by being the team's pilot and vanguard, he couldn't let Chaz take any more of his attention than he currently held. Wren had tried to help the youth previously, personally, but all he seemed to have done was make matters worse. Even an individual as selectively emotional as Wren could see that as plain as day.

It had been the first selfish thought he had had in his head for countless years and the first thing he had done with it was to further mess up the psyche of an innocent boy, their unofficial leader. Should he not feel shame for that? He did, cold shame, invisible shame. Unlike Chaz, he was the master of deception and nobody at all noticed his feeling of regret. He was almost good enough to fool himself. So while Rika and the others worried about Chaz, Wren worried about himself and the wedge that he might or might not have driven straight into the heart of his party, of his leader.

Garuberk stood in the heartland of Dezoris like a gnarled throbbing finger, slightly curled and pointing cruelly towards the sky. It was surrounded by a forest of flesh-and-blood trees that fed on meat and bone, thrashing and howling across the snowfields for sustenance. They had pulled Kyra, the esper girl from its branches before she could be consumed and later on learnt from the fifth incarnation of Lutz that a holy torch was needed to burn away at the blighted forest so that they could reach the tower. The revelation of the Lutz had been a shock to all, especially Chaz and Kyra, but since then the hunter had found other things to occupy his time.

Recently the holy torch that they required had been stolen out from under their noses, by creatures that had recognised Rune personally for the magician that he had been two thousand years ago. Their destination now lay in deep space where their base was, a castle that had been salvaged from an ancient time and place. The Air Castle. That was where they were to have their next great battle. Even Rune, who knew the place well seemed to be a little unsure. Nervousness was infectious and they were all afraid up to a certain degree.

The Landale docked skillfully on the lone asteroid, the largest one on Algo's belt of Palma. There was a cleared section of empty space that was almost like a runway, as if the malevolent creatures lurking upon the asteroid were trying to make their coming as comfortable as possible. This was further illustrated when they disembarked from their spaceship, sending Wren out first as a lone scout. The android would not be killed by a lack of atmosphere and was heavy enough to withstand low gravity and not float away. It was actually the ideal job for him. Wren stepped out of the airlock and walked down the extended ramp towards the ground. He looked about cautiously, his gun raised in the chances of a sudden ambush, then jumped slightly to test the asteroid's gravity field.

Satisfied, he climbed the ramp back to the hull of the ship and activated an intercom system that would broadcast his voice to his friends waiting anxiously inside the ship. He leant his gun carefully against the hull after placing the safety back on again, certain that the exterior of the asteroid was clear. It was the inside that they had to be worried about. "Gravity is normal and there is a breathable atmosphere." Wren said calmly into the speaker, then added; "this is clearly an artificial condition." But of course. There was no way that an asteroid could develop a perfectly oxygenated environment by itself.

The airlock opened a second time and their resident pink-haired numan was the first one to brave the atmosphere of the new world, leaping out of the ship and over the ramp like she expected invisible hands to catch her in midair and gently set her down on the ground. Even though those hands didn't come for her she still landed with an incredible amount of grace, unmatched by any gymnast. Kyra came second, a hand over her mouth and nose, this being her first time in space and she expected the exploded remains of Palma to smell like sulfur and brimstone. She chanced a quick breath, closing her eyes, then sighed in relief when everything turned out to be normal.

Rune came third with a set look and a bitter gleam in his eyes, hardly believing that he was back here again, and after so long. Everything looked so different now, so haunted. What kind of ghosts would they encounter in there? He had a feeling that he already knew. Rune clicked the end of his silver stave against the surface of the metal ramp and followed the path that Rika and Kyra had taken, down to the true atmosphere of the planet.

Chaz was their leader and so he dutifully exited the Landale last, his sword at his hip and his clouded spirit temporarily clear. Whatever problems he had he needed to set aside for just a little while, or else he would risk putting his friends and comrades in danger. Still, he stole a quick sideways glance at Wren who was standing beside the open airlock, waiting to close it once everybody else had exited the ship. He looked completely unconcerned, untroubled, as if the thought that he and his friends might die today had never once entered his mind. It must be bliss, Chaz thought, never having to care about anything at all.

"I guess they must be expecting us, huh." He said lowly as he passed Wren by, joining up with the others. There was no telling how long they would be trapped on this asteroid, it could be any length of time between mere hours and days. They had provisions on the ship to last them for about a week, but that was considering that they had the ability to come back to the ship at all. Chaz could see three uncertain faces waiting for him at the end of the ramp. No matter what, they had to get that torch back as soon as possible. The airlock of the ship closed and the small party of adventurers left their vehicle, moving towards the large fortification ahead.

The Air Castle. It was constructed of aging yellow stone hung badly bleached against the inky backdrop of space, its large arched doors held slightly ajar, just enough for Chaz and his company to squeeze on through. It was fortunate that the doors were already open, because it would have taken a team of giants to budge them by any normal means. Inside the castle the room was highlighted with stones that were a light to dark purple in colour, bearing the hue, if not the texture of amethyst, or a violet rose quartz. Deep holes in the floor were square-cut and inside bubbled the hot earthy smell of molten lava, remnants of when Palma had been destroyed.

To slip and fall into one of those deep red pools would be instant death. The entrance chamber was as huge as a cathedral and Kyra stared at the pits warily, keeping closely to the strip of floor that ran solidly between the lack of pews. Chaz was walking beside Rune with his hand on the hilt of his sword, and although he was walking with the male esper his eyes were on Rika, who was bold enough to take the point position of their party. The girl seemed to be in good spirits despite the dangerous environment they were in. "I was hoping that this place was going to have low gravity." She admitted cheerily to everyone. "I always wanted to know what it would be like to be utterly weightless."

Wren sped up from his spot at the rear and walked at Rika's side. He smiled at her fondly, and Chaz realised with an odd feeling in his gut that the only person that Wren would ever truly smile for was Rika. Nobody else. "The Landale has a gravity control meter for the ship's inner field. When we vacate from this place I would be more than happy to activate it for you. That is, if extenuating circumstances do not force me to focus entirely on piloting." Chaz envied the way that the android could talk so easily to her. If only he could do the same.

She was about to gratefully nod to him her appreciation when something important caught the corner of her eye and she turned, whirling back towards the path with her body tense. Wren read her movements within a second and raised his gun as fast as he could, the safety coming off with a quiet little click. Chaz, Rune and Kyra didn't know or couldn't yet see what had startled her but they had functioned as a team long enough to trust her. A sword was unsheathed, a staff raised high and a pair of laconia slashers glinted in the light of Algo, streaming through the shadowy windows of the Air Castle.

"What is it?" Chaz breathed, holding his long sword carefully out in front of his body in the same way that Alys had taught him, years ago. "What can you see? Ri-" Before he even had a chance to finish her name the numan suddenly wasn't there anymore, she had run off like a shot, sprinting down the path all the way to the other side of the hallway. Smoke from the pits of lava slightly screened her retreating figure from them and the rising heat created ripples in the air, causing the world to shimmer.

"Hey!" Rune cried, thoughtlessly extending a hand out to her. He of all people knew how dangerous this place really was. If Rika got too far away from them they might not be able to protect her. The magician turned at the heel to the others and blazed at them, his fine voice loud and commanding. "Follow her! Now!" The others really couldn't do anything else but obey, running after Rune who was leading the charge, his pale blue cloak surging out behind him.

Chaz felt Kyra roughly grab his wrist and yank him forwards as she began to run, dragging him along as if he was unable to do so by himself. That annoyed him slightly, but that annoyance was offset by the fact that if she hadn't grabbed him Chaz would have still been standing there, staring like a blithering idiot. Wren was already long gone to them, only two paces behind and to the side of Rune. If they were running into danger Rika was probably going to get them all killed.

It was not a battle, although when the four of them finally noticed what the numan had seen they were more than prepared for combat. They found Rika standing before the three strange creatures that had stolen the eclipse torch, leaning forward a little inquisitively, a battle the last thing on her mind. She heard the others come to a stop behind her and didn't turn around, unable to take her eyes off what she was seeing. "These things, I ran straight up and took a slash at them but they didn't even flinch. My claws went straight through them as if they were made of air. Is this an illusion?"

Rika must have had the eyes of a hawk to be able to spot those monsters from so far away. Chaz pulled his sword arm out of Kyra's grip and moved closer for a better look, his own eyes catching the way that the monsters were flickering and resonating at a barely noticeable level. Tentatively Chaz reached his hand out in preparation to touch the illusion, half expecting somebody to speak up and stop him, to grab and pull his hand away just like a parent guides their child's hands away from a hot stove. Nobody stopped him, did not even bother to try and Chaz felt a fragment of aggravation for them, like they didn't care enough for him to stop him from possibly hurting himself.

His hand went straight through the projected image of the creatures with no resistance at all for about three or four inches, then Chaz was stopped immediately by what felt like an invisible glass wall. It was as thick as it was tall, encompassing the entire illusion, blocking their way to the big arched door that stood behind them. Chaz withdrew his hand and looked at it, noting that he had felt a strange tingling sensation when it was in the middle of the projection. It had felt like magic. "It's a barrier." He informed his team. "We can't get through this way, not until we find the real versions of these guys," he gestured to the apparitions, "and beat them."

"No, wait." Rika piped up, turning to face Chaz and then Rune who was now holding his staff in both hands. It looked like he already knew what she was going to ask him. "We've gotten through magic barriers before. Rune? Do you think that the Psycho Wand would work here and now?"

Rune stepped up to the barrier and Rika and Chaz obligingly moved away from him, giving the male esper plenty of room to consider and think. Wren and Kyra were as silent as statues in the background. They all watched as Rune raised his silver staff skyward and made an odd motion with his right hand, a practiced technique that he had learnt hundreds of years ago.

The physical outline of his stave fogged out and shifted before their eyes, before anybody else knew it Rune was holding the Psycho Wand in his hands, mysteriously conjured from the equipment room back on the Landale. There was no doubt that his silver staff had taken the Psycho Wand's place in its storage. Kyra made a small sigh of begrudging admiration, she had only seen a few espers do that in her life and it still looked so cool to her.

He thrust the wand into the illusion and twisted it slightly, like he was turning a key in a very large lock. Perhaps he expected to hear the click of an invisible mechanism opening itself up, but all he heard was nothing, the dull hum of the illusion that was only audible to espers and the magically inclined. It was a failed attempt. Rune pulled the wand away and shook his head in negativity. "It's no use. Whoever it was that put up this barrier has a stronger magical force than this wand. We'll have to find another way around it." And it wasn't the creatures that had placed this barrier, he knew that well. It would probably fall when they were dead, just as Chaz had said, but the illusion field was none other than Lassic's power.

Kyra was understandably nervous. Something that could stop the Lutz in his tracks was a force to be reckoned with. They would all be going up against that force very soon. She looked towards the side of the hallway and upwards a little bit, noticing that there were two levels of balconies hanging just above their heads. But below that and not too far away to the right was another door, and this one wasn't being guarded by anything at all.

It was the only path left for them to take. It was fairly straightforward too, a long winding corridor with a few branches leading off to empty or long vacated chambers. Rune was leading them now, as he had a very rudimentary memory of the Air Castle and the way that it was built. But a memory was only a memory, not as good as a map, and a two thousand year old memory was at best blurred and distorted. Rune had some very clear pictures of his past and the people and events that had taken place back then, but minute technical details like the layout of the of the Air Castle escaped him. If the corridor thickened out into a maze he would be just as clueless as the rest of them.

"This place has changed a lot since I was last here." He admitted as they walked, making conversation. He anticipated Chaz opening his mouth behind him and continued before he could get a sarcastic comment in edgeways. "This castle wasn't destroyed during the Great Collapse because it wasn't attached to Palma or its gravity. It floated in the air atop a great hill."

This interested Rika, who always loved hearing about new things. "So if it was in the air how did you manage to get inside it?" She asked. "You couldn't have used a spaceship because it was already in Palma's atmosphere, right? What did you use? Was it some kind of light aircraft?"

The distant memory caused Rune to smile wistfully. As they went around a bend in the corridor he sighed, not out of any sad or ill-feeling, but because remembering that far back reminded him of just how old he really was, in his head, if not in his heart. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. All of you, not in a thousand years." Rika frowned cutely at not being given a proper answer, Chaz noticed this with a moderate degree of ache in his chest, but Rune just laughed softly and urged them on. Maybe he'd tell them the full story someday, but now was not the time, not when a monster could attack at any given moment.

They continued on their path for another half hour, then Rune's greatest fear haphazardly decided to come true. The party of five, two espers, one android, a numan and a palman walked out of the purple-shaded hallways of the castle and into a large courtyard, blinking at the great increase in light from Algo's sun. When Chaz's eyes came back into focus and the glare was gone he began to see what Rune was already looking at in dismay.

There were many doorways leading out of the open courtyard including the one that they had just emerged from. All the hope that this would be a quick and easy mission fell from his chest straight into his boots. They were clustered on one side of the courtyard, but Rune left the group and took about ten steps forward, glanced about in silent discouragement, then said a particularly foul curse word under his breath. He collected himself then walked back to the others, about to utilize his contingency plan.

"This place has been built to confuse us, to confuse _me_ most of all, I think. I know there's a small room with an arcane symbol drawn on the floor somewhere around here, that would be the best thing to use as a reference point. There are so many different paths to choose from that it'd take forever to search through them one at a time. We ought to pair off and look for that room in teams of two, then at least we can get through this place three times faster than normal. What do you say?"

Rune had asked for their opinions but wasn't prepared to listen to them right now, he was too dead set in his ideas and his ways. The esper reached into a pocket of his green tunic and sorted out a handful of something with his back turned to his party, then whirled around with something very familiar bunched up in his gloved right hand. Chaz recognised them instantly. It was the long coloured matchsticks that they used to draw up their nightly sentry duties when the roster needed reorganizing. Chaz knew where this was going to go and he didn't like the sound of it at all. "Let's draw lots." Rune said, confirming his intent. "I'll go by myself because I think I know where the room already is, but you four each take a partner and a door for yourselves."

"This is most unusual." Wren replied softly, sounding to Chaz that he didn't like the idea any more than the young hunter did. His reasoning would be more logical though, not for some stupid reason like infatuation. Wren was above that. Still, despite that Chaz at least was hoping to be paired with Kyra so that he could avoid both Rika and Wren. The chances were against him but he could still hope.

Rika smiled and reached forward first, intent on drawing the first lot. She wasn't really afraid anymore. They had come this far and there had been no trouble at all. No matter who she was paired with Rika was sure that she'd be able to protect them. "If you get into a situation and need any help, just scream and I'll come running." Slowly she drew from Rune's fist a long matchstick, painted dark red at the tip. Whoever drew a stick of a similar colour would unquestionably be paired up with her.

Chaz knew that he definitely didn't want to be the last one left to pick. He mustered up his courage, looked Rika straight in the eye and grinned. His mouth had suddenly gone as dry as sandpaper but he persevered anyway. "I'm not going to scream, even if something with a hundred fangs and two dozen tentacles is crawling up my leg. I still have my pride." He drew his lot in a quick, fluid movement, the same way as if he were drawing his sword. He wanted to get this part over with before he lost his nerve. Chaz looked at the stick pinched between two of his fingers and let the held-in breath balled up in his lungs escape between his teeth. The match he had drawn had a blue tip. Thank the gods for that.

Kyra put her hands on her hips and bent over to get a good look at the matches in Rune's hand. The esper girl always liked to be lucky last, but her luck always seemed to come through for her in the most dangerous of moments. She had a good feeling about this time. Squinting as though she had x-ray vision, she drew a match and peeped at it in private before showing the others. When she did she had a big smile on her face. The match was red-tipped. "Looks like the ladies go one way and the men go the other way. I hope you boys have some fun."

Rune picked the last blue-tipped match from his hand and crammed it back into his pocket, saving Wren from having to draw the obvious for himself. The android didn't even seem to be very interested, he was staring at a cluster of stars quite visible in the spacious sky. Rune held out his hand again and the other three gave their matches back to him, Chaz included. The hunter hadn't asked for this, but company with Wren was a little better company than with Rika. He didn't have a possible relationship that he could muck up there. As long as the android kept his mouth shut and Chaz did the same, everything would be okay.

The two girls smiled at one another in an incredibly mischievous way, like they were children in the midst of a slumber party. Rika bowed to Kyra and then held a looped arm out for the esper to take, of which Kyra did happily. There was a door to the left of them that didn't seem like much trouble. They would go through there and just hope for the best. "Shall we go, my lady?" Rika asked in an overly deep voice until it broke into a series of short giggles.

Curtseying as well as she could with only one free arm and doing quite a good job of it with her long white cape, Kyra started to giggle herself. "Aye, lets go madam." They wandered away, arm in arm, as happy as could be. Rune rolled his eyes and said something quietly that Chaz could barely hear, something about living to a million and _still_ never being able to understand women. Before both girls were out of sight Kyra looked back and called out to the others; "Take good care of my little brother, okay Wren? I'm counting on you!"

Wren didn't seem to be listening to her but Kyra was satisfied anyway, she and Rika re-entering the Air Castle and disappearing from sight. Upon overhearing the order that Wren 'take care of him', Chaz couldn't help but blush slightly and be forced to remember that night several days ago, when the android had gently helped him with his problems and then had kissed him. Unconsciously Chaz brushed his lips with his fingertips and looked away, towards his new and yet old travelling companion. The compassionate side of Wren wasn't there anymore, if it had ever been there in the first place. The way that he had freaked out over that kiss had definitely frightened it away into the dark.

The reverent Fifth caught and noticed Chaz's strange gesture but chose not to say anything about it, though he already had a pretty good idea on what it meant. He was very close in his assumption, and yet so very, _very_ far off. Rune patted Chaz on the head casually to remind the boy of how pitifully short he was, then he turned away to start walking on his own path. He had a small inkling that the room he was seeking was north, up ahead. He smiled, flashing his teeth. "Remember to scream." He said, then left the two all alone.


	3. Argument

Fortunately for Chaz, Wren contented himself with following the hunter silently, uttering not a word and staying at least two meters behind Chaz as he led the way. Rika and Kyra had gone west, Rune north, so the only path left that they could take without retracing their steps was east. An open door was conveniently placed there, its long dim hallway dark and intimidating. Both adventurers walked slowly, deliberately, their weapons out and prepared for combat. This was the perfect time and the perfect place for a monster ambush, and contrary to what the others had said to him, Chaz was not going to scream. He was too battle-hardened for that.

The corridor was long and thin for the time being, with no exits save for the one they had come from, a tunnel that led away from the courtyard and wasn't pressed up against other parts of the Air Castle, probably leading towards the eastern wing. Every twenty meters or so windows were cut into the sides of the hallway, beautiful arching frames in the shape of an old-fashioned bell, but empty and without bearing any glass panes. They had either shattered eons ago or had never existed in the first place.

The windows were placed in a zigzagging pattern along either side of the walls, so despite each window being twenty meters away from one another there was always another window on the other side, about ten meters away. They cast white bells of light all over the floor, creating a repetition of light and shadow. The atmosphere was strange in this place, seeming to be manipulated by some sort of unknown magic. Despite the many windows the entire hallways was unnaturally dim, while the light streaming in from Algo was contained in those beams of bell-shaped illumination, neither extreme penetrating the other.

Chaz felt, though he did not know where this intuition came from, that walking in the darkness was a lot safer than the light. He edged around the eerie non-shadows as if they were dangerous booby traps and heard Wren doing the same thing behind him. Did Wren feel similarly to him about those beams of light, or was he only just following Chaz's lead like a mindless automaton? He could ask, but Chaz didn't want to even open his mouth. He might end up starting a conversation that would sour very quickly. He was walking on eggshells enough as it was.

Slowly Chaz could sense that Wren was beginning to fall behind. The two meter distance that he had kept between them had degraded into three, and was halfway to becoming four. The hunter waited for a few seconds to allow the android to catch up with him and saw the blankly troubled, vacant expression on Wren's face, like his awareness had gone somewhere else and had entrusted his body to follow Chaz indiscriminately. If there had been a pit of lava between the both of them Wren wouldn't have hesitated to step straight into it and fall to his doom. He would have been useless had a monster attacked. Wren stopped a few seconds after Chaz stopped and just stood there, waiting for him to move again.

A thought suddenly occurred to Chaz. Perhaps it wasn't that he was ignoring Wren, but that Wren was ignoring _him_? They hadn't spoken civilly in days, not since that confusing night and Chaz had purposefully kept away from the android to avoid a secondary confrontation. But if Chaz _had_ tried to seek Wren out instead of ignoring him, would he have received the same amount of coldness that Chaz had shown to him? The thought had never even crossed his mind but there it was, as hard and as unyielding as the heart of a peach. The fact that Wren was following him like a mechanical toy only seemed to confirm his suspicion.

Could Wren have somehow taken offense to something Chaz had done during that night? The youth thought back to it but couldn't really pick anything definite out of his memories, they had been messed up enough thanks to what Wren had done to him. Chaz sheathed his sword for a moment so that both of his hands were free and clapped them loudly together with his palms curled a little but, altering the noise so that it was deep and profound. Wren flinched like he had been startled and raised his gun quickly again, pointing it at the source of the noise.

Chaz of course felt a little vulnerable at having a giant canon pointed at his midsection but tried to ignore it, setting his hand on the barrel of the weapon and trying to push it away from him. It didn't yield but Wren blinked once and seemed to come to life again. He didn't look very confused, he was like a victim of hypnosis coming back to their senses once more. He lowered the gun gently and this brought Chaz much relief. "Daydreaming?" The hunter asked as he unsheathed his sword again.

"Oh…" Wren said slowly, backtracking on his stream of input data to locate the problem that had rendered him oblivious to his surroundings. He had been thinking various things and then something seemed to have slipped, for want of a better term, and the next thing he knew was Chaz clapping to bring him out of his own thoughts. He supposed that it was what daydreaming was all about. "Yes, I was daydreaming. I am sorry for the hold up, Chaz." He replied, but made sure not to look the youth in the face. That was very important.

His words left Chaz to wonder what exactly an android would take leave to daydream about. All they cared about was fulfilling their purpose in the world. Now that Wren was away from Zelan and performing tasks that only indirectly related to his purpose, did that make Wren daydream about Zelan? From his perspective Chaz thought that it would be incredibly boring. He smiled a little and started down the corridor again, the metallic clack of Wren's feet indicating that he was following him, and much closer this time. That was good. "Daydreaming about anything in particular?"

"I cannot satisfactorily reply." Was Wren's answer, taken directly from his inner logbook of technical replies. It wasn't that he didn't want to answer him, it was just that he was unsure himself. Streams of information become cluttered and blur into one another when not monitored properly. He did have something he wanted to ask Chaz however, he just didn't know whether it was appropriate enough to speak of. But in the worst case scenario, what more could he get but silence? He had been getting enough of that lately. "You have been avoiding me." He said, not as a question but as a simple statement.

So Wren really _had_ noticed, Chaz hadn't just been apathetic for nothing. That actually made him feel a little bit better about himself, although he didn't know the reason why. Would this blossom into the conversation that Chaz had dreaded to begin? Probably, but it had already started, it was best to get it over with now, especially when they were safely in private. Once this was resolved he would have one less issue to deal with. He nodded his head in affirmation but didn't look back at the android that was following him. "That's right." He said and left it at that. He wasn't going to string the conversation along if he didn't have to.

Chaz had been trying to put Wren off but subtle mind tactics were lost on the dark-haired android. He knew enough that Chaz was avoiding him, and he knew the reason why but couldn't allow the scenario to continue. The hunter had said before that the most important thing that they had was each other, and if this coldness grew they would be unable to function as a team. The fears that Chaz held about Rika were being reproduced here and now, except that Chaz was the one doing the freaking out and Wren was being made to feel like he was nothing at all. Did Chaz even _notice_ that?

"You have not forgiven me." Wren murmured softly, then effectively allowed all hell to break loose.

Chaz's steel-wall defense was nowhere near as reinforced as he had allowed Wren to believe. It broke as he heard those words as if it had been made of nothing more than dry forest twigs. It had been a wall that had kept all his emotions at bay. Now that it was broken everything came rushing out in a flood of bad feelings. In the end Chaz was only palman. His colour rose and he whirled about angrily, his sword drawn and his eyes full of fury and confusion. "Of course I haven't forgiven you!" He cried. "How can I forgive you when I don't even know which way is up anymore? I came to you for help, Wren, I let you know my deepest problems and you took advantage of me!"

"I wanted to help you more than anything that had been plaguing my mind at the time. You told me your problem and for you I processed an answer. But you…" Wren had been speaking calmly even after he found that he had Chaz yelling at him, but upon those words his voice caught and changed a little, as if a tiny sparkle of emotion was trying to fight its way through. "You do not want to be helped. You just want to sit in your indecision and complain. You suffer, and I do not want to see you suffer. You may be confused, and you may be angry at me, but in your hatred you can no longer feel the pain."

Just listening to Wren try to reason his way out of things only made Chaz feel angrier. It was mostly because in a way Wren was telling the truth, he _had_ stopped aching over Rika as often as he had before, but dammit, couldn't there have been an easier way? And Wren hadn't negated those thoughts about Rika so much as he had practically taken their place, which was both wrong and frightening. It was all because of that damned kiss! "You don't know anything," Chaz muttered in a lower tone, "you only like to think that you do. Do you really think that I enjoy living like this?"

Wren's response was nasty in its words but not in his tone. He hadn't known until now that he could be so cold-hearted, especially to a friend. "Then you have spoken to Rika yet? No? That is what I thought so."

He couldn't help it. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He wanted to wipe them away but he wouldn't allow Wren the satisfaction of seeing something like that. "You know I can't. Why would you bother bringing that up when you already know the answer? You just enjoy messing me up inside. You're not as good-natured as I first thought you would be, Wren." The tears spilled down his cheeks and he raised the back of his wrist to his face to rub away the tears anyway so they would be gone. "God," Chaz groaned, "I should have swallowed my pride and spoken to Rune. He would have made fun of me but at least he wouldn't have hurt me."

The android glanced away from Chaz, guilty. "I do not deny the fact that I hurt you." He said, unable to meet Chaz's eyes and gauge his reaction. "I wish that I hadn't, but I have. I should have known better and the fault rests with me. But I cannot change the past more than any other can. All I can do is apologise and admit my shame, but if that apology is not accepted what else can I do? What more _can_ I do?" He looked back at Chaz and saw the flushed look of anger that was spent. Wren put his hand on the hunter's armored shoulder. "Please tell me what I can do to earn your forgiveness."

Chaz wanted to flinch away from Wren's touch but didn't. Despite the bad thing that he had done it wouldn't be fair to not offer him a chance for forgiveness. He _wanted_ to forgive Wren, but didn't know if his heart would hear the apology as well as his head did. His gaze dropped to the floor, staring at his white boots. It all came back to one simple, scary truth. "The problem isn't that you kissed me, the problem is that I liked it more than I should have, even though it was wrong. You're not only an android, but you're a _male_ android at that, and yet I still enjoyed it." Chaz laughed harshly at himself. "It's not right. Is there something wrong with me?"

In the end Chaz truly believed that he _was_ sick in the head. Just as he had lovesickness for Rika, he also had his worrying doubts about where his true sentiments lay. It was probably best that Wren remove his hand from the boy's shoulder. He did so carefully, not knowing what to say. He didn't know how it had happened, but a simple kiss had turned into Chaz's nightmare. "You love Rika and that is never going to change. What has transpired between us is meaningless and shall remain that way. It would be best for us to forget that that night ever happened."

The youth nodded, his head hanging low. His opinion was slightly different, though. Chaz rubbed his nose with the back of his hand and sniffed. "The thing is that I _know_ it wasn't meaningless. I felt something for you and it scared me. I've been trying to forget that night for days and I just can't. It was my first kiss and yours as well. That makes it special in itself. I wish it wasn't so." The hunter peered up at Wren who was looming over him. The android looked sad. "What we need to do is to _make_ that kiss meaningless, that way I won't have to keep on obsessing over it and we can get on with our lives. Do you follow me?"

If Chaz had an idea Wren was open to listening to it. He would do as Chaz dictated if it meant that his penance would be served. Nothing would feel right anymore unless this issue was resolved properly. "I think I follow you." He answered the boy, not sure if this was entirely true or not, but he was willing to cut corners if it would get him through this conversation at a faster pace. Never before had he allowed himself to do something like that. "What can I do to help you?"

He had a desperate, almost frantic look in his eyes. What he was about to say sounded like absolute madness to one half of his brain and yet made perfect sense to the other half, a well thought out and logical thing to do. Which side was correct and which side was misinformed? Chaz didn't know, but what Wren had said earlier had struck a chord deep inside of him; he couldn't just sit in his indecision and complain forever. He was nowhere near prepared to accept the streak of bisexuality that may have been hiding inside of him, but for what it was worth he wasn't convinced that it didn't exist either. "You have to kiss me again," he babbled, "that way I'll realise that it wasn't special at all and I can get over it. That's what you have to do."

It sounded like sheer nonsense to Wren. How on Motavia could that be the answer? It was madness! Chaz wasn't thinking correctly. Two wrongs did not make a right and repeating what had happened on that night was the last thing that Wren wanted to do. He didn't want to make matters any worse than they were and Chaz's idea seemed like the quickest route to that end. Wren knew that palmans were complicated, but he never would have thought that they would be _this_ complicated. He shook his head in negativity. "I cannot comply. I do not want to hurt you again, even if you request it."

"Please?" Chaz persevered despite knowing that it was crazy himself. "I think it's just like facing your fears. The first time is scary and always leaves you traumatized, but if you're brave enough and come back for a second time you'll find out that it's all in your head. Please Wren, I just need you to let me be a little brave…" He stepped towards the android, holding one hand out to him as an offering, or if he was about to pat a dangerous or bad-tempered animal.

Wren raised his hands a little, his free one and the one that bore his hand-held cannon and took a step away from Chaz, backing away from the young boy. He was greatly alarmed by Chaz's unpredictable actions and wanted no part of it. There was no way that this could be beneficial for him, the android just wished that Chaz would be able to see that for himself. He had never stood down against any manner of ferocious or deadly beast, but for Chaz he stood down. This was frightening him in a way that no monster had managed before, because it would not be his life that would be forfeit, but Chaz's psyche. "No." He said firmly. "I will not."

A flicker of disappointment passed across Chaz's face and he paused for a few moments, perhaps finally noticing how badly he was beginning to startle his companion. Wren looked like he was only a hair's width away from drawing his gun on the blond hunter. "I see. Well, if you won't kiss me, I'll just have to…"

He didn't sheath his sword, he just let it drop to the floor as if it was so much dead weight. It clattered as it struck the aged stone and Chaz ran forward as quickly as he could, hoping to catch Wren by surprise. The dark-haired machine had good reflexes and could have dodged Chaz easily had he been able to predict the move, but this was not how Wren had expected Chaz to react.

Chaz was a lot shorter than Wren but this didn't prove to be too much of a problem once Chaz put his mind to it. Wren took another step backwards and yet before he knew it Chaz had trodden on his feet and threw himself upward at him, managing to loop one arm about Wren's neck as an anchor and hold him there. Chaz may have been short but that did not make him weak, he was comfortably able to support his own weight. Wren opened his mouth to say something but was effectively silenced by the young hunter in an incredibly intimate way. He had gotten his request after all. Wren could do nothing else but give in.

When it felt like Chaz's hold on him was not as firm as Wren had originally been led to believe, he lowered his arms and awkwardly put them around Chaz to prevent the boy from slipping away. It was only then that he noticed Chaz was trembling slightly and that there were tears running down his cheeks. He had been right, this _was_ hurting him even more and he was allowing it all to happen. Wren felt something that was almost akin to sickness and pulled away from Chaz, breaking their kiss.

He was holding Chaz away at an arm's length, high enough so that they were both of an equal height and looking at one another in the face. Chaz couldn't feel any kind of strain in the arms that were holding him, Wren was so strong that it was like being held by a crane, except that a crane couldn't look as passively horrified as he did right now. The horror was not on his face but behind it, somewhere deeper inside. Chaz had his hands on Wren's forearms and felt misery and dread claw at his heart, trying to pull it away from the only other emotion that truly mattered. Desire. Gods and goddesses, where did he go wrong?

"You should not have done that. It could not have possibly made things better, and now you are crying again. I am sorry." Wren said softly as he carefully set Chaz back down on the ground again. The youth allowed it without question, his hands sliding off the android's large arms. He walked forward and picked up Chaz's dropped sword, the usually heavy weapon as light as a wooden baton while in his care. He didn't know why he was talking when the situation didn't call for it, but he felt that he needed to cover up the silence that Chaz was creating for the both of them.

He reached out for his sword and took it from Wren's hands. Alys had always told him that a hunter who dropped his sword did not respect it or the lifestyle that they had chosen to uphold. She had said that they should be ashamed of themselves. These words came back to him like the breath of a ghost, Chaz grabbed at the enamel grip and held onto it as hard as he could, a dozen things going through his mind all at once. The blond youth sighed deeply in an attempt to loosen the tight bands of pressure that had bolted down around his lungs and heart, then admitted what he thought was true. His voice was a raspy whisper. "Don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault this time, it was mine. I'm only crying because I'm confused. You didn't hurt me."

That was a relief. Wren anxiously glanced down the corridor. He knew they should have progressed much further than this by now, and yet they could not continue on until this was resolved. "What possible conclusion or answers can we get from having this conversation?" He asked.

"I don't know." Chaz replied honestly. "You were the catalyst for this problem, but the problem itself is one of my own issues. Maybe I'm just doing a little soul-searching and I'm using you as a tool to help me. No, that's not right…" He shook his head gently with his gaze lowered towards the floor. "The truth is that whenever you kiss me or I kiss you I get the same feeling whenever I'm thinking about Rika, except for you. I don't know whether that makes the things I feel for Rika not as unique as I initially thought, or if it means I simply feel affection for you in the same way. My problem is that I'm afraid I like you, Wren."

What could he say to an answer like _that_? Wren cared greatly for Rika, almost as much as Seed had but he could not place himself in the same category as her, not even in a thousand years. But Chaz was admitting here and now that in his mind they were practically placed side by side. Wren stared at Chaz for a few moments, trying to see if he was serious or not. Chaz seemed to be too distraught to be a liar, and he wouldn't lie in the first place if it meant he would tangle himself up deeper in this mess. "You like me?" He said at last, lifelessly.

He couldn't go back now. He didn't want to, either. "Yeah." Chaz muttered.

Wren appeared to think this over very carefully, as carefully as he had done so when Chaz had once asked him to use his imagination and guess what it would be like to be the boy. Perhaps he was doing the same thing all over again, but differently. This seemed to take an eternity for Chaz who was waiting impatiently for a response, but eventually Wren's mind seemed to clear and he put his hand on Chaz's head, a mimicry of something that Rune liked to do. The hunter flinched, wiping at his eyes. Wren managed to smile slightly. "Very well. If that is how you feel then I have no problems with it. You may stop worrying about it now."

It sounded so silly that all Wren needed to stop Chaz from fretting was to merely request it out loud, but for some reason it worked. Chaz was only very young and unused to coping with things on his own, like an adult, so it felt so much better to just give up and allow Wren to do the coping for him. His feelings were not fully resolved, not yet, but that was enough for today. It was enough until next time. Chaz nodded. "Alright. Thanks Wren."

"This is not the time nor the place for idle chatter. We can speak of this more at a later date, when we are both out of harm's way. Please understand that I wish to see you in reliable mental health again, so take it easy until then." For a few seconds he ran his metal fingers through Chaz's short blond hair in a friendly manner, then pulled away and continued down the corridor, this time taking the lead. Feeling a little better about himself Chaz smiled and followed him, trying to clear his mind in the same manner in which he had used before.

He wondered if Wren had really accepted Chaz's admittance of his feelings or if he was only trying to remove the bitterness between the both of them. An acceptance was only a very basic acknowledgement of a notion, it was not a true understanding. If that were so then there would be a lot less prejudice in life. Chaz didn't know if Wren truly understood what Chaz had meant when he said 'like', but sooner or later he was going to find out. Chaz just had to keep it together until then. He saw that Wren was disregarding the contrasting light and shadows and was just walking straight through the both of them, so they couldn't have been that dangerous. No need to worry.

Chaz had gotten himself back together enough to be humming and muttering an old song under his breath by the time that he heard the scream. It had been a folk tune from the town he had first lived in, a low and partially butchered rendition of _'Danny Boy'_. It cut off immediately as the scream resounded through the air, both Chaz and Wren raising their heads like small animals scenting a predator in the grass. The hunter's mind suddenly screamed 'Rika!' at him through a megaphone, but no, that did not sound like Rika's voice. It was the sound of a woman nevertheless.

"Kyra." Wren said solemnly and did a complete one eighty of his path, running back the way he had came. If it was not Rika, then it _had_ to be Kyra. But Kyra was with Rika, wasn't she? That meant they could _both_ be in great danger. Wren almost nicked Chaz's side as he ran past him but then Chaz was not far behind, running as well, as fast as he possibly could. What had they encountered that would be horrible enough to make the esper girl scream? Another thought touched Chaz with fingers of amazing coldness, scraping at his heart. Rika probably didn't scream because she was already dead.

His heart leapt into his throat at that thought and Chaz nearly choked on it as he began to pant a little, the corridor somehow seeming longer than it had been before, stretching out like a reticulated python. It could have either been because of magic or merely his panic, but Chaz didn't care. He became mindful of the red flush on his cheeks and the way that his eyes burned and felt a little sore from crying previously, his nose slightly blocked and making it harder to draw in breath. Wren had made him cry but that all seemed dim now, paling in the light of that terrified scream.

Light flashed all about them and they were in the courtyard again, fleeing from the dark airy hallways of the Air Castle. His eyes did not have enough time to adjust properly and Chaz squeezed them shut before he could develop burning after-images all over his vision, listening to the tread of Wren's feet as he ran ahead. Soon enough he believed a stitch would develop in his side and slow him down. Wren yelled out both Rika and Kyra's names. If they had been able to hear the scream then the two girls should be able to hear Wren's shouts. Rune too, if they were lucky.

As for Chaz, he hoped to God that the esper and the numan were alright.

Because if anything happened to Rika, Chaz would never forgive himself.


	4. Meet Them Head On!

How could they have been aware of a monster they initially couldn't see? It was not there anyway, had never been there in the first place until it pulled apart the fabric of space and time as it stood and ripped itself open an entranceway for it to peek through, staring out with milky clouded eyes that had not come from this dimension. It wore the fabric of reality as both a cloak and a curtain, protecting and shielding it from hostile adversaries. It's battle technique was a cowardly one, to pop up, swipe or grab at a potential victim or prey, then to disappear again behind its curtain, rendering any possible retaliation as useless. The dimension worm's defense capabilities were practically perfect. Practically.

There had been three altogether functioning as a unit, or maybe they had been the different violent segments of the same worm. Rika had seen to the unmasking of two of them using an amazing amount of speed and zeal, catching the edge of their dimensional curtains with her claws and then slashing them to ribbons. Once their delicate bodies were exposed all Kyra had to do was run them through with her laconia slashers, ceasing their thirst for flesh and blood for good. The problem was that she simply couldn't keep up with Rika, the numan girl just moved too fast.

By the time that Rika had exposed two of the worms and had moved onto dispatching the third, Kyra had only slain the first worm and the second one had a clear path to Rika's back. Long tentacles with hooked claws on the ends lashed out at her from the naked mass of slimy flesh, raking her across the back and drawing free diagonal splashes of red blood. The force of the claw striking her body shoved her forwards and into the path of the third worm, all the grace in Rika's body leaving her at once. The girl cried out as she was handled like a dropped doll, stumbling towards the ground.

"Rika!" Kyra yelled and dove at the second worm while holding one of the slashers in her hand like a dagger, fingers in and edged blade out. She cut a trench two feet long and an inch deep into the body of the dimensional worm, puncturing its skin that was like very taut yet gelatinous goo. Without its shroud it was utterly defenseless. The monster wailed out its pain and dropped to the floor in a stinking writhing pile, leaking transparent blood like so much spilled water.

She still wasn't quite fast enough to help her friend. Rika braced her fall with her hands and knees and gritted her teeth hard, her back aflame with burning pain. The claws had ripped through her armor like it had been made of simple cloth. She heard Kyra cry out and the whistle of her slasher in motion but it was all muffled by the pain that she felt and the warm sensation of blood trickling down her back and sides. There was a heavy thump to her right but she could not see what it was, for she had her eyes tightly closed. It was to prevent herself from crying, because she could not cry now.

Kyra saw Rika try to stand on her own and the tentacle claw of the last worm left snaked out and swatted her across the face to knock her to the ground again, then proceeded to wrap its claw about Rika's right arm. Kyra dug her slasher out of the body of the dead worm with a meaty slurp and stared with horrified fascination as she wondered what the heck it was trying to do to her. It wasn't hurting her anymore as it was, it only seemed like it was trying to gain a better grip on her body. Rika looked unconscious now, the last blow having knocked her completely out of her senses.

The blood smeared on the blade of her slasher touched her skin and bit at it like corrosive acid. Kyra hardly noticed, for the truth came crashing down upon her like a bolt of lightning. The dimensional worm was preparing to drag Rika off into its own world, to a dark dimension far away where it would gladly feed. As soon as this idea touched her mind the tentacle began to slowly retract, dragging Rika along with it. The numan girl was leaving a wide vibrant trail of blood behind her as she was moved, so much like a piece of rare meat.

In case of an emergency, what were they meant to do? Kyra opened her mouth and shrieked, a scream so loud and resonant that it made her eyes water and the cartilage of her nose ache, her vocal cords hurting afterwards from the effort. Kyra was a warrior and did not scream in fear no matter how deeply she felt it, but what she desperately needed to do was to call for aid. If Rika was carried away into that monster's dimension they would never see or hear from her again.

She leapt from the corpse of the monster's fallen friend and brought both of her flat palms together in almost a clap, barely a centimeter apart from one another. "Hewn!" Kyra shouted and concentrated her esperine powers into an incredibly narrow margin, no greater than the width of a single air particle. It gathered between her hands in a rush of magic and blind faith, the spell sucking at the air around her and making her pale clothing billow. It was a blade, a saw made from the wind. Kyra brought her body back in a practiced manner and flung the spell at the worm like it was one of her very own slashers, keeping her aim as perfect as she could.

For a monster to be properly hewn it all depended on the accuracy of the spell caster. This move was Kyra's specialty due to the nature of her physical weapons. Hewn screamed like a buzz saw and cut into the flesh of the worm's claw with scalpel-like efficiency, effortlessly severing the tentacle from its body. With no brain to control it the limb went dead and lax immediately, loosening about Rika as her body came to a stop.

It screamed as blood spurted from its stump and the dimension worm yanked its limb back as quickly as possible, snapping its rip in space and time firmly shut. There was no telling if it was gone for good or merely in hiding, but Kyra ran to her friend anyway and fell to her knees, raising her hands in preparation to touch the worm's slimy limb. She reviled creepy crawlies and ugly slimy things of any description, but she still had to do this. Grimacing visibly, Kyra clamped her hands down upon a length of the tentacle, tugging and pulling on it until Rika's body was free.

Up close the wound was deeper and more horrible than it had first appeared. Rika's face was as white as a ghost, the girl possibly in some kind of shock. Kyra cursed herself for not being able to keep up with her, then began to unlatch the tight straps that kept Rika's armor clamped firmly to her undersuit. It had been mutilated by the attack as well but she had to remove it on order to have better access to Rika's wounds. She needed to properly treat them. Kyra pulled away Rika's small cape and the armor, making a gesture in order to cast the ancient spell of medice.

But the worm struck first, from behind. Two claws whipped out to hold its dimensional cloak open, then a third claw extended and crackling arcs of blue magic leapt from each hooked nail, casting a spell of its own making. This had gone beyond the worm's simple sense of hunger and the desire to feed, the pain that it felt in one of its many tentacles had bled down into a deeper emotion, a deeper need. Revenge. It wanted Kyra's carcass as a trophy.

Gravity intensified around the two girls, increasing nearly a hundred-fold, cracking the tiled stones below their bodies and forcing them to the ground. Kyra moaned as her raised hand dropped to the floor as if it had been turned into lead and an invisible force slammed her against Rika's body, pinning the pink-haired girl against the stones. Kyra knew this technique well; she herself possessed the power to cast it against her enemies. So, of all people in the world it was Kyra who knew just how deadly this gravity spell could be.

It was only a matter of time until the dimensional worm managed to use the spell to crush her internal organs into a messy pulp. Kyra could feel it beginning to happen to her even now. Blood rushed up her throat in a gurgle and when she coughed hard she splattered the light purple floor with droplets of red. Her hand fought against gravity to press against her stomach, wondering what the damage looked like on the inside. She glared at the worm and its raised claw hatefully, wishing that she had the strength to stand.

"Kyra! Rika!"

The claw bristling with gravitational energy disintegrated before her eyes. It was lost in a burst of superheated yellow plasma. The monster held itself there for a moment, not understanding what had happened, then screamed like a harpy and flung the stump about like a whip, turning towards the source of the blast. Kyra choked as the gravity spell was neutralized and air rushed back into her lungs, closing her eyes and trying to breathe through the parts of her body that had begun to hemorrhage.

Wren lowered his plasma cannon and cursed the fact that he and Chaz seemed to be late. Kyra and Rika were on the ground and both appeared to be bleeding. He slowed down a little and allowed Chaz to race ahead of him, determined to cover Chaz's back. The android followed Chaz and made a stand between the two girls and the monster, acting as a shield. He had no clear knowledge of what the monster was or could be, but he would not let it get another swipe at his friends.

Chaz was not as calm and collected as Wren chose to be, but he sill kept his head pretty well despite the situation. He could see Rika lying there, bleeding, and it filled his young body with rage. Where the _hell_ had he been when Rika had needed him most of all? Chaz held his sword up in an attack position and slashed diagonally at the enemy, hoping to cut it cleanly in two. Half a second before Chaz acted the two claws holding the dimensional rip open pulled it closed, so that the young hunter struck nothing but air. "Kyra!" He shouted again. "What's happened!"

Still holding an arm about her stomach Kyra tried to stand, groaning softly all the way. She couldn't quite manage it by herself but Wren offered her his hand, gently pulling the esper girl to his feet. She accepted the aid gratefully, then watched helplessly as he moved on to inspect Rika, laying her out in a prone position, slightly on her side, with her hands supporting her head. "We were ambushed. We killed off most of them, but there's only one left. I thought we were done for."

Maybe splitting off into three groups had been a dumb idea in the first place. Chaz was holding his sword tightly in both of his hands, waiting, anticipating the monster's next move. It was just like fighting an invisible enemy. He caught a flash of movement in the corner of his eye and swung his sword up to deflect the strike of a tentacle, the clash of laconia striking against otherworldly claws resounding in the air. There was a rustle and the monster was gone again, retreating into nothing.

Chaz had to buy them some time for now. Wren hoped that the boy was up to the challenge. A second strike from the worm clipped Chaz across the ear and almost knocked the youth down, but he held his ground bravely and swung his sword like a baseball bat when the claw came straight at him again, cleaving it in half. Squealing, the worm drew back but came on strongly again after only a few seconds, this time with two claws instead of just one. How may tentacles did this dimensional worm have?

Rika was not doing as well as she outwardly seemed to be. She had only been wounded before, but the gravity spell had pushed her to the very edge of her limits. Wren detected that her heartbeat and pulse were very faint. "Kyra," he said, standing, "you must treat Rika and then yourself. She is dying. Chaz and I will terminate this beast." Kyra looked at him seriously and then nodded, wiping traces of her own blood from her mouth. It was her fault that Rika had fallen, she needed to make amends somehow.

When Wren walked into the fray Chaz had several rips in his bodysuit and a heavy dent in one shoulder plate, while a cut to the side of his face bled down along his left temple. Three or four severed worm tentacles lay all around him, lifeless and dead. He and the worm were caught in a stalemate, neither one besting the other. Chaz fixed Wren with a commanding glance, his usually confused green eyes hard and yet sparkling with excitement. In the end, this was his element. "How long are you going to keep me waiting?" He asked, wiping blood off his chin with the back of his hand.

In battle Chaz had plenty of confidence. If only he could find a way to reproduce that confidence in other areas of his life. Wren extended his gun arm and disconnected the cables that coupled his weapon to his electrical system. The energy in his plasma cannon immediately went dead. He let the weapon drop uselessly to the floor of the Air Castle. Wren needed both his hands free in order to do this right. He regarded Chaz very steadily. "Not any longer." He replied.

They had not exchanged a word between one another regarding battle tactics and yet they both seemed to know exactly what to do. Wren walked forward and Chaz gave him space to move, catching one of the other waving tentacles using the flat of his blade and his hand, trying his hardest to hold the claw back. The second claw struck Chaz's armor heavily and the boy grunted as the air was half belted from his lungs, feeling his knees weakening from the strike. All he could do was endure it. Abruptly the second tentacle lost interest in Chaz and dove straight for Wren, who was approaching the body of the dimensional worm with caution, waiting for the correct moment to rush forward. The claw gouged at his side but Wren didn't seem to feel it at all, he didn't even notice what had happened.

He knew that he couldn't hold onto this tentacle for much longer. It was shaking itself about so violently that eventually Chaz was going to be thrown into the air. His hands bled as he grabbed onto the curved nails of the claw, like a man holding onto the horns of a bull, feeling the tentacle lifting him off his feet. "Githu!" Chaz cried and slashed off the top of the tentacle using an old hunter technique, calling forth a focussed light that had come from somewhere inside of himself. It had acted just like a laser. The remaining part of the tentacle shuddered in agony and hurled him to the side anyway, shoving the youth hard against the castle wall. There was a strident thump and Chaz slid to the ground, hurting.

Wren took this distraction and used it to its fullest opportunity. When the worm's buggy eyes were fixed on the beaten form of Chaz Ashley Wren lunged forward and lashed out with his strong metal hands, clamping them down on the two large claws that were holding the worm's rip in space and time open. His grip was less than perfect but his sheer strength made up for that, forcing the rip to split wider and wider, exposing the worm hidden within. As long as he held on like this the heart of the fiend could be attacked.

The major flaw in Wren's plan however was that he had no way to launch that attack himself, because both his hands were full just keeping the monster at bay. The angle was all wrong for him to unleash a flare attack, and if he activated his burst rocket unit in such a confined area there was a greater probability that he'd burn his friends to death. He was stuck. Wren turned his head towards Chaz, who was leaning against the wall with his eyes wide in shock. He looked unreachable. "Kyra!" The android yelled, calling out to the only other person who could fight.

Kyra rose from where she had been sitting beside Rika. She did not have enough time or indeed the concentration to cast her medice spell anymore, she hurt too much to find the peace of mind that unlocked her esperine powers. Her hands were smeared with the dimate that she had been using to treat Rika's wounds, but with the silence and stiffness of a robot she shakily climbed to her feet. She was trembling, hardly able to stand. "I'm coming…" She whimpered and raised her slasher faithfully, as proof of her intentions.

The girl only managed three small steps before she keeled over and coughed up more blood. The broken tentacle that had sent Chaz across the room retracted sneakily back into its rip in space and time, then was replaced by the dimension worm's trump card. It was a long thick length of scaly forearm that was tipped with five separate stubs and nails, each one resembling something of a palman's finger, but much deadlier. It began to scratch and shove at Wren's body, trying to push the android away and force him to let go. Wren watched Kyra pass out on the edges of his vision with a growing feeling of dread.

His armor was taking the abuse rather well, given the circumstances. The claws grated and squealed against his body, creating sparks of friction. Slowly Wren started to feel his hold on the dimensional rip slip away. The worm was succeeding in forcing him back. The edge of a claw pressed against his vulnerable face and slashed it open like a knife wound, pain flaring up in his neural matrix like a bright beacon. "Chaz, wake up!" Wren shouted as a thick dark fluid seeped out of his wound and began to drip down along his jaw and audio sensor. The worm's basic yet practical mind understood that it had found its enemy's weak spot. Its arm rose to strike again.

"You must stand! I require aid-argkh!" Wren spoke again but his words were silenced as the monster slapped him hard, hard enough to effectively shut him up. Meanwhile Chaz had fallen over onto his hands and knees, breathing slowly yet steadily. It felt like two or three of his ribs were broken. The monster's limbs might have been made of nothing but goo, but that blow had made it felt like he had been hit by a fully grown sand worm. Chaz groaned and tasted blood in his mouth, but was able to get his hand around the grip of his sword. Using it as a crutch he eased up his hurt body and stood. He clutched at his front, almost doubling over again. Dear God, it hurt.

Wren was yelling something at him but Chaz had stopped trying to make out the words. He hurt too much to pay attention. Weakly he started to stumble towards Rika, lying unconscious on the ground. What had that horrible monster done to her? Why hadn't he been there to stop it? Chaz's eyes began to burn, preparing for the tears to start. "Rika…" He said.

His reply didn't come from the right person or direction. Wren had only been shouting blandly before, without much emotion up until the point he was hurt. Now the android was beginning to sound desperate, almost pleading. His face was a bloody mess, covered in cuts and scratches. The worm's claws were flecked with whatever it was that passed for Wren's blood. "Chaz, _please_!" He cried. "I need you!"

Chaz came out of his daze like a man awakened from a very deep sleep. For a second his mind had tricked itself into believing that they were Rika's words, because he honestly wished it was so, but then he turned slightly and saw Wren being beaten down by the worm, holding onto the dimensional rip just barely. The great arm had cinched its stubby thumb and index finger around Wren's neck and was beginning to squeeze. He had tried to pull away, and failing that, he resorted to the very last thing he could do. Wren tried to lean away from the nails and then sunk his teeth into the giant scaly thumb, the monster screaming more out of anger than pain.

_I need you._

Those words hit him harder than they were ever supposed to. Words that he wanted to hear so very badly from Rika, coming from Wren. And was it true? Did Wren really need him as much as Rika did? Was now even the right time or place to consider it? Yes, because it only took him a second to figure it out in his mind.

Yeah, maybe they both did. Chaz lifted his sword.

"Let him _go_!" He roared and moved like a bullet, running towards the worm and effortlessly jumping over Kyra as if she wasn't there. Pain exploded down along his ribcage and felt like liquid fire, the knowledge that something felt slightly out of place in his body being pushed to the back of his mind. His footsteps were light, as if he were treading on clouds. Chaz did not sever the thick dangerous arm that was holding Wren captive, instead he went straight for the death blow. He ducked a free flailing tentacle and popped up again in front of Wren and under the girth of the arm, bringing his own right arm up in a strong stabbing motion. He was going for the creature's face.

The sword met practically no resistance at all. Chaz buried his laconia sword all the way up to the hilt in the creature's brain, stabbing it between the eyes. This time it did not scream. It was already dead, so it had no time left to scream. The dimensional worm's hold on Wren loosened and the arm dropped lifelessly to the ground, nearly smacking Chaz in the head as it did so. The boy moved away just in time. The spare tentacle followed it and Wren finally let go, the hole in time and space sealing itself within a few seconds, trapping the dead worm inside.

Chaz took a tired step away and nearly tripped over something at his back, but that something turned out to be Wren and he gently held the hunter steady, knowing that he was hurt. Chaz dropped his sword on purpose for the second time that day and let out a deep sigh of relief, glad that the fight was over. He watched the closing rip slice off the two extended limbs of the dead monster that was gone, or had never been there to begin with. Chaz would hardly believe it either, save for the puddles of transparent blood slicking the floor and the piles of severed limbs all around them. Suddenly he became grateful that Wren was holding him, because he might have fallen over from the sight alone.

His mind working on auto pilot now, Chaz pressed his bleeding hand against his broken ribs. He involuntarily made a weak squeaking noise at the raw burning feeling that flowed forth from it, then he used one of his gires techniques on the wound and the pain lessened a little. It was enough to allow him to think clearly now. Chaz became aware of how Wren was holding him and blushed. He was probably only doing it to keep him from falling over, but still…

"I can stand. You can let go of me now." Chaz said. Wren obeyed that command silently and dropped one hand from Chaz's waist, while the other came up to mask the more ruined side of his face. Chaz turned around and saw that Wren was heavily bleeding that strange dark blood of his, and from the parts that Chaz could see his friend looked like he had been in the midst of a barroom knife fight. Concern surged over him like a strong tide. "Oh my god, does that hurt, Wren? Do you need a bandage or something?"

Wren shook his head carefully so as not to agitate the scratches. "It is not as bad as it looks. Come on, we must tend to Rika and Kyra now." Chaz almost jumped. The others! He had nearly forgotten all about them! How could he? Wren kicked a dead tentacle aside to make room and knelt down beside Kyra, easing her up into a sitting position. Tentatively he placed his hand on her stomach to check for internal injuries, then moved up to her left breast to clock her heartbeat. After only a few seconds of diagnostic analysis he removed a dimate from their inventory and began to treat her wounds.

Chaz didn't know how to handle Rika properly. Several times he reached out to her but ended up stopping midway, giving in to anxiety. Somebody had already gotten halfway through treating her before they had been stopped. Poor Rika, those slash marks looked terrible. Absently Chaz brushed his lips with the tips of his fingers and proceeded to cast gires after gires over the numan girl, wishing her well again. He was so very sorry that he had not been there to save her in time.

"…Thank you for your aid." Wren said softly as he treated Kyra with the dimate, the esper girl groaning and beginning to stir. She was not quite conscious yet, so it seemed to be safe for them to talk. Wren had been in deep danger and he felt that gratitude was in order. He was glad that Chaz had been able to prevail in the end. In fact, he almost felt proud of him for it.

The hunter looked up and met Wren's serious grey eyes. They had always reminded him of blankness and steel, possibly because of the nature of its owner. Yet now they reminded him oddly of rain clouds, of something good that was just waiting to happen. Rain clouds were rare on Motavia, they were something to be treasured. Chaz quickly looked away before his train of thought advanced any further. "Don't mention it." He answered, embarrassed. "You're my friend. I couldn't let anything bad happen to you."

There was an awkward silence. After a time Wren spoke. "Chaz?"

Rika's wounds had stopped bleeding. The slashes needed to be bound in bandages and disinfected, but overall it looked like she was going to be okay. Chaz was thinking about how they were going to carry her without touching her wounds. It was going to be a difficult task. The blond hunter petted her pink hair fondly, lovingly. "Yeah?" He said.

The android was trying to wipe the dark blood from his face. He didn't have anything to wipe it off on, so he was using his hands. Once his hands were thoroughly bloodied he then tried to wipe them on the floor. Chaz could see all the wounds now. They looked awful. Wren didn't even seem to mind it that much, it was only a footnote to him. When he touched Kyra again he accidentally left a damp handprint on her pale clothes. "What did you mean when you said that you liked me?"

He asked this casually, but even Chaz could see that there was some kind of eagerness behind it. Wren really wanted to know. Perhaps it was bothering him as much as it bothered Chaz. The youth shrugged noncommittally. "I don't know. I barely understand it myself. That's the thing I really need to figure out. But not here. Definitely not here."

For the first time in a long while Wren looked visibly hesitant, almost troubled. Whatever it was he was about to say disappeared from his lips. It didn't take much to change Wren's mind when it came to unstable matters such as _that_. "I see. Never mind, then." He stood, picking up Kyra and holding her carefully in his arms. He smiled distractedly, something that came off as extremely forced. "Rika is slightly heavier than Kyra, but I believe you would prefer to hold her, correct? Please be gentle with her. Let us go back to the courtyard and wait for Rune. He should be there soon."

Chaz nodded and gathered Rika into his arms, feeling giddy and at the same time strangely flushed. She was heavy, yes, but she was also warm, and that pleased him. He wrapped one arm underneath her legs and the other supported her shoulders, trying his hardest not to touch her wounded back at all. They needed to retreat and come back better prepared, but they had to find Rune as well.

As much as Chaz would have liked to abandon the arrogant esper on this dead asteroid, he was still a friend, and they needed him.

Just as they needed one another.


	5. Flesh Wounds

In all honesty Chaz had expected to find Rune waiting casually in the open courtyard, ready to scold them all and especially Chaz for taking so long. He wouldn't have a single clue as to how difficult and dangerous their last battle had been, then Chaz would finally have the chance to scold _him_. The young hunter grinned a little. Even through a couple of broken ribs the thought managed to cheer him up. It was petty, but he was not going to let that fact spoil the slight brightening of his mood.

Chaz was disappointed. Rune turned out to be in the courtyard all right, just as predicted and awaiting their return, but he looked anything but casual. Chaz stopped smiling immediately and remembered where they were, in the base of the enemy. The way that Rune was leaning on his stave seemed to suggest that he was hurt. The edge of his cloak was charred and partially burnt away, as if by fire, and the Lutz looked exceedingly pale, strained. Rune had not had a partner to defend him in battle. If he had fought, then he had fought alone. No wonder he had not immediately rushed to Kyra and Rika's aid.

The hunter and the android paused simultaneously, taking in the sight of their comrade. Rather than let the magician limp over to them they closed the distance themselves, still carrying their fallen friends. The esper surveyed their losses silently and then spoke normally, no indication that he was wounded surfacing in his voice. Rune was completely calm. "You've both been busy. I heard the scream. Sorry, but I had my hands full at the time. How are the girls? They still alive?"

"They will both survive." Wren replied before Chaz could. It annoyed the hunter a little that he was generally overlooked during times of crisis, and that Wren seemed to ignore him when Chaz was technically their leader. Maybe he just liked to give reports, Chaz didn't know. He shut up for the moment and allowed his friend to talk. "Kyra has sustained internal injuries and minimal hemorrhaging, yet there were no major ruptures. Rika has sustained the same injuries along with some deep flesh wounds and a cracked vertebrae. I see that you have first degree burns too, Rune."

The magician stiffened slightly, almost as if it were an accusation. He smirked a bit to cover up his weakness. "It's nothing. I got jumped by these huge rock things, they spit fire as well as acid, but they weren't much of a match for me. If you and shorty have the strength to keep on walking, I found the room I was talking about before. We can bring the girls there and regroup." He stood up straight and put his weight onto his hurt leg. Rune gritted his teeth and winced.

Chaz finally spoke up. He was against the idea and let everybody know about it. Rune wasn't seriously considering continuing onwards to the heart of the Air Castle, was he? They would never be able to defeat the three creatures with such heavy losses. He would put Rika and Kyra in danger too. It was a stupid idea. Chaz shook his head. "No, we ought to turn back. Look at us, there's not a single person here who hasn't been wounded. I say we should go back to the Landale and try again once we're all healed. We can't fight a war against the darkness and win in this condition."

Wren offered him some support. For once he completely agreed with Chaz and knew that it would be in the best interests of all if they retreated now. Being daring was one thing when it came to saving the people of Algo, but they would not be able to rescue a soul if they were all killed. He nodded curtly, shifting Kyra in his arms a little so that he held her in a more comfortable grip. "I second the idea. If another battle initiates the likes of which we have seen before, I do not think we will be fit enough to fight back. Chaz is right, we should go."

Unexpectedly Kyra groaned. When Wren had moved his arm a bit it must have woken her up. She opened her eyes and tried to pull away from him, so he put her down and helped her to stand on her own two feet. Chaz's eyes flicked over to Kyra then back to Rune, silently reinforcing his opinion that they needed time to reevaluate themselves and heal.

Rune was not adverse to that idea, hell, his own injury was hurting him just as badly as the others, but they did not understand. He could forgive them for that however, because they did not know what he knew. Rune tried to sound sympathetic, failing miserably. "I know that it seems like the best idea, but we haven't enough time for that. The black energy wave is killing off innocent people even as we stand here and discuss it. If we can just get to that room without dying everything will be alright."

The hunter knew very personally what the black energy wave could do to people. He had been forced to watch his own mentor waste away and die. Far away on Dezoris, that was happening to dozens, maybe hundreds of people. Chaz knew of it and felt so guilty that he was probably choosing between the lives of his friends and theirs. Rune was good at manipulation, playing on Chaz's emotions to get what he wanted, It was dirty work, yet necessary. The blond youth looked down at Rika's calmly unconscious face as if seeking guidance. "But I…" He murmured, not sure on how to reply.

"It's alright, Chaz…" Whispered a weak voice from his side. He turned his head a little and saw Kyra looking at him through eyes clouded with pain, and yet she was still smiling reassuringly. The esper girl was nearly standing by herself, but was trembling as she did so, like a wire drawn tight against great strain. She didn't really know what was going on, but her telemental abilities gave her a good gist of the idea. "I can keep going for a little while longer. Just… somebody lend me their shoulder…"

After already carrying her this far, silently Wren obliged her. Rune turned on his good heel. "Good girl." He muttered, secretly impressed at Kyra's tenacity. The esper made a beckoning gesture with the back of his hand. "It's not very far. We can rest soon."

Whether it was close or not it didn't really matter, it was still a pain in the ass to get there. Rune was dead set on leading them himself but his limp was prominent and heavy, slowing them down. It was probably just as well though, because all Kyra could manage was a meager shuffle, leaning on Wren for support. The dark-haired machine had half-offered to carry her again when it was evident how much pain she was in, but she had ended up snapping loudly at him and refusing outright. Her pride as a warrior was worth a little pain. Chaz could understand that, though it didn't mean that he embraced the sharp biting pain of his broken ribs either.

The numbness of his gires spell was wearing off and now it hurt to breathe. It was like blades were poking him inside his own stomach. They left the courtyard and traversed down the corridor that Rune had taken, tense and expecting the worst. If the three creatures were watching from afar then this would be the best time to ambush them. Chaz tried not to think about it, but he was really a cynic at heart. Also, no matter how much he knew he loved Rika, that did not stop her body from growing steadily heavier as his arms began to ache.

They passed the spot where Rune had obviously done battle. The light purple corridor was fractured in places and heavily marred with dark scorch marks, from both heated fire and scalding acid. The air was charged with a strange energy, but when Chaz asked Rune about it the esper just coolly shrugged him off. It didn't matter, the hunter could feel it when several tandle spells had previously been called into existence. A strange looking beast lay dead on one side, something that appeared to be a mixture of sea creature and stone golem. Beneath its cracked rock-haired skin its flesh was cooked, burnt and flayed. The party of four all looked away.

Chaz was beginning to grow pale again. It wasn't something that he could consciously control, his body was just reacting to the pain while his mind urged it not to. Another gires spell would have helped him considerably, but alas, both his hands were full with Rika. Wren noticed Chaz's deeper drawings of breath and the colour draining from his face from the corner of his eye. His attention partially diverted itself from minding Kyra and he looked at his friend with worry. Friend? Was Wren even supposed to call him that after what Chaz had already told him? He didn't know, and he supposed it didn't matter much right now. He began to ask what was wrong…

"Chaz?"

…but was beaten to it by somebody else. The youth froze in mid step and looked down at his precious charge. Rika was squinting at him a little because she had only just opened her eyes and even the dim light of the Air Castle seemed to be too bright for her. Their entourage halted immediately. That pretty, familiar voice was what they all wanted to hear. Though pale, in some way Chaz managed to blush. A slow, hesitant smile spread across his face. It changed him somehow, revealing to the others a brief view of the handsome adult that he was one day going to be. "Rika!" He said, and laughed.

Rune, Kyra and Wren suddenly stopped existing to the boy. All his attention was focussed on Rika. The numan girl blinked sleepily and realised the burning pain across her back and within her stomach. She felt bruised from the inside-out. Rika wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I wasn't the one… who screamed, was I?" Chaz shook his head quietly on reflex. Rika seemed satisfied. "That's the problem with cavalry. It always… arrives a few minutes too late. Where's Kyra? Is she okay?"

The esper girl was strong enough to answer her without gasping. She was succeeding at walking off the gravity spell quite well, that or she was becoming used to the pain. She stepped forward and raised her head, revealing that tears of dogged determination were on her cheeks. "I'm fine. Rika, I'm sorry I couldn't keep up with you. I royally messed everything up."

Chaz could hear that Kyra was talking but he was only vaguely aware of the words. He was overwhelmed with so much relief that it nearly seemed to physically exhaust him. It was a little compelling the way that she was looking up at him from his arms, still half asleep but obviously alert. It would be so easy for him now to suddenly blurt out; 'I love you!' and await the inevitable response, but he'd have to be totally crazy to do something like that. Instead he settled for his own apology. "I'm sorry I didn't get there in time to save you properly. I wish I had. Sorry."

Being bombarded with apologies from all directions was a good way to confuse her but Rika was much brighter than that. She smiled and reached her hand up slowly, playfully flicking the tip of his nose with her thumb and forefinger. Chaz recoiled and nearly dropped her, uttering a sharp gasp of surprise. Rika wanted to giggle but didn't. "It's okay. Thanks for rescuing me, Chaz. I think someone like you could do with as much hero practice as he can get."

Chuckling, Rune agreed with her and let everybody know it. Kyra managed a warm smile and Chaz just nodded, greatly heartened. Rika didn't seem so badly wounded after all. The hunter had almost completely forgotten about the sharp pains in his side and he was eager to get to that room and take a break. To say that today was stressful both physically and mentally was a gigantic understatement. Chaz felt ready to curl up and fall asleep in the very first safe corner that he found. His arms reminded him of something. Chaz voiced that memo out loud. "Do you think you're strong enough to stand and walk on your own? It's fine if you're not."

Rika thought about it for a few moments. She could not fool herself over her own personal limitations. The girl had an extensive knowledge of anatomy and could easily feel the cracked vertebrae that had been mentioned earlier. It was like a tight, sharp knot in her spine. She was perfectly happy where she was, in Chaz's arms. Rika snuggled closer against his front to prove her point. She _could_ stand, but the pain would be unimaginable. "Can you hold on for just a little while longer?"

The hunter nodded gratefully. His arms hurt a bit but he was still enjoying this. Pain would only serve to make him stronger, anyway. A few feet away Wren was watching their exchange with a blank expression, letting Kyra use him as a crutch. He was very relieved that Rika had regained consciousness again and seemed to be okay, but something else bothered him deeply enough to negate those happy thoughts. It was stupid, but that did not make it any less disconcerting. Wren wiped at the streaks of dark synthetic blood that still stained his face, irritating his wounds.

Chaz was always happy whenever Rika noticed him. He loved her so much that he could almost be entirely open with his feelings and not be ashamed of them at all. He practically _begged_ attention from her. Wren could not understand how Chaz could hold such ambiguous affection in high regard and then completely reject any affection that Wren was more than happy to offer him. It was obvious that Chaz would prefer a female to a male, a biological organism over a machine, and Chaz had been head-over-heels with Rika before he had even _looked_ at Wren. He knew all of this very well, but regardless it still bothered him.

He was not very familiar with the concept of envy and the thought of experiencing it never really occurred to him. Wren put his hand on Kyra's shoulder and prepared to lead her again. "Let's keep moving." He said coldly, slipping into conjunctive speech. "We'll be attacked if we stay here in one place for too long. Come on." He didn't wait for Rune to give the go-ahead this time, Wren just left while supporting Kyra at his side, eliciting a weak cry of protest from the girl. He ignored it. The android just didn't want to look at Chaz and Rika for one moment longer. Separately they were fine, but together, well, Wren couldn't understand why he didn't like it that much.

The corridor twisted a lot and branched off into several smaller pathways. Rune told them all which ones to take and which ones to disregard. They passed two more sites of battle, half a dozen monster carcasses lying strewn about and dead on the floor, wiped out by esperine magic. There seemed to be no dimensional worm corpses. Hopefully they would have passed their hunting grounds already. Eventually their course turned west for a long while, and then south again. They were walking in a wide circle. Chaz was worried that they had wandered all the way back to where they had started in the beginning, entering another open courtyard for the second time. It looked exactly the same as the first one.

No… that wasn't right. There were slight differences that Chaz was beginning to see. The placement of the doors and the dull brown pebble in the sky that was Motavia seemed to be a little off. There were only two doors now instead of three, not counting the western arch they had emerged from. Those two doors led towards the north and the south. Rune was persistently limping his way towards the southern exit. Without even waiting for his friends the esper stepped inside, prompting the other three capable of walking to follow him. No words were exchanged. They just left.

The room was small and cramped compared to the ones they had walked through earlier. There was enough room for the five of them to move about freely without feeling confined, and it was like a cul de sac with only one direction for enemies to rush through. It felt kind of cozy, and even more than that, it felt safe. It was a good spot to rest. Gently Chaz knelt and laid Rika out on her side, knowing that pressure against her wounds would be unbearably painful. Kyra collapsed against a corner, exhausted. Rune leant against the wall, glad to take the pressure off his wounded leg. Wren blocked the exit out to the courtyard, filling the position admirably.

They all needed to rest. Nobody spoke for quite some time, and everybody avoided the strange arcane symbol inscribed into the center of the floor, tattooed there like the signet of a very powerful magician. It was drawn with a strange golden substance, glittering and pulsing as if it were alive. No ill will emanated from it like various other evil enchantments the group had seen in their time, but it was still eerie and didn't look quite right. In Rune reverent words they 'took five', so that their bodies and minds could recover from the stress. After about ten minutes the male esper raised his head and looked over at Chaz, sitting up against the wall. "You hurt, Chaz?" He asked innocently.

The boy glanced up as he was spoken to. Rune usually wasn't one to worry about his health and it seemed weird that he would start now. He eyed the esper with something akin to mistrust. "Just a few broken ribs." He said simply, as if it were nothing. They didn't feel much better than before, but because he wasn't constantly moving they no longer felt like sharp needles in his side.

Rune nodded more to himself than to Chaz. Maybe he had his own hidden agenda or mischief to uphold. Still leaning on his staff like a cane he limped over to the young hunter and helped to pull Chaz to his feet. He rose but looked understandably confused, and Rune did absolutely nothing to ease Chaz's confusion. He was having fun, in a small and impish way. "Good." He replied carefully, one hand wrapped around Chaz's wrist. Abruptly, without any indication that he was about to do so, he released his wrist and pressed his hand against the back of Chaz's shoulder. Pausing for only a fraction of a second he shoved Chaz forward, onto the weird golden design on the floor.

Chaz stumbled and nearly tripped over his own feet as he was pushed into the center of the room, the eyes of his four friends suddenly fixed on him. His broken ribs crackled painfully as he leant forward a bit to maintain his balance, but just as quickly as the pain had stabbed itself into his brain it inexplicably retreated. There was a bright flash of light from behind his eyeballs, incandescently golden, and a great feeling of warmth spread from the wounded and tired areas of his body. Chaz sunk to his knees in an oddly feminine movement and blinked, surprised.

Wren came to the edge of the symbol and knelt, trying to assist his friend. Chaz looked a little dazed, like he had forgotten where he was. The android was concerned for him, very softly he took hold of Chaz's upper arms and shook him, lightly. The hunter wobbled as he was shaken. "Chaz?" He whispered quietly so that the others could barely hear him. "Chaz, please wake up. Are you alright?"

The youth turned his head towards his friend and the lucid quality in his eyes cleared. He focussed on Wren and smiled privately at him for a moment, then was distracted by something else. Something amazing. Chaz looked down and patted his front. No pain. Undaunted, he fit his slender fingers under his armor and pressed them against his ribcage, delicately at first, and then much harder. He traced the outline of his ribs with his index and middle finger and could feel no breakage in the bones. "My ribs," he said in a small voice, "I'm…"

"I'm _cured_!" Chaz cried and threw himself at the person closest to him, offering them an embrace. Wren's reflexes were good and he caught the hunter before Chaz could accidentally smack his face against Wren's chest plate, softening the impact somewhat. The android was surprised, the adventurers around them were surprised too, but Chaz was surprised most of all. Stress must have been fraying his judgement and mind, but he still felt quite happy for some reason. Maybe it was the arcane symbol beneath his legs that was doing it, but Chaz still found himself in Wren's arms for the third time that day, yet this time they were straight in front of their friends and allies.

Somebody who sounded an awful lot like Kyra began to giggle. Chaz blushed and tried to look away from all the others, but made the biggest mistake ever by burying his face against Wren's chest. That only made things seem even more awkward. He could imagine them all staring at him, thinking the same thing, looking the same way. Oh, we all _knew_ that Chaz was a bit of a weird one, but we never actually thought that he was _that_ weird, _that_ sick in the head. There's no use for a gay android-loving brat, we had better leave him behind. Lets drop him off on Kuran, he'll be happy there.

Chaz could imagine them all thinking and saying that, and it was all too easy for him to believe that it was happening. It made him feel cold, oh so very cold. No wait, that was only Wren's metal armor drawing the heat from his body. It made Chaz want to condemn himself to a fate unmentionable when he realised that the situation he found himself in excited him a little, being trapped between a friend and the unknown. But was Wren really just a friend to him, after Chaz had confessed that he liked him and Wren had accepted that confession happily?

Fortunately Wren was rapidly getting better at controlling awkward situations. If anything he was remarkably adaptable. Smiling, he pulled Chaz away from his body and formally broke the embrace. "I am glad that you are better now, but maybe you should stand up and move aside so that others may be treated." He looked at Rune who was watching them quietly. "This symbol heals people, affirmative? There is no other explanation for Chaz's recovery and outburst. Is that why you led us here?" He stood up and helped Chaz to do the same. Embarrassed, the hunter stepped off the gold signet and retreated to the other side of the room, fiercely ashamed.

Rune was no fool. He could read people like a book. Chaz was as easy to read as a child's watercolor picture book, but Wren was a different matter. He had no story to tell, and if he had it was locked up very tightly. He gave up on figuring the strange behavior out, it probably wasn't relevant to their quest anyway. "Yes," he confessed in a bit of a drawl, "that's why I brought us here. It's useful, no? Now we don't have to waste any time, we can tackle those creatures today and no other." He left his stave leaning against the wall and hobbled towards Kyra, crossing over the strange symbol as he did so.

As soon as his feet touched the center of the large hieroglyph Rune's limp immediately disappeared. He walked briskly and purposefully, as if he had never been injured once in his life. With a bit of silent coaxing he picked up Kyra and held her effortlessly in his arms. She looked at him with puzzlement in her dark blue eyes. Something didn't make much sense. "But if you knew about this room and its healing properties, how come you were still injured when I woke up?"

Rika interjected and spoke for him. She was trying to sit up as well as she could without I feeling uncomfortable. The numan girl was looking forward to her own turn on the magical healing circle, she hated feeling so weak and vulnerable. Her great intelligence was her second strongest quality and at least she still had that to fall back on. "It's simple once you think about it." She explained. "Rune was injured _after_ he left this room and before he joined up with the rest of us. He couldn't turn back without bringing us with him."

Chaz, who was sitting cross-legged next to Rika with his hands pressed into his lap glanced up suddenly, looking at her and then Rune. He still felt very anxious from his outburst but this had caught his attention. Rune, the arrogant blue-haired bastard suffering for the sake of others? Impossible, yet somehow true. He didn't say anything but Rune's face twisted into an expression of impatient arrogance. He didn't like it when people pointed out his softer side. "Yeah, well, forget about it." He huffed and laid Kyra out on the symbol, then took a step back.

Seconds later Kyra hopped up all by herself. The symbol had worked its magic on her bruised body. Laughing, she gave Rune a warm hug of gratitude, not caring that the reverent Lutz had gone as stiff as a plank in her arms. He was not very used to hugs. Next and lastly came Rika's turn. She couldn't stand by herself but Wren helped her along and gently guided her trembling body onto the sigil. Chaz would have done it himself but he didn't want to be the center of attention anymore, even if it meant that Wren would get the grateful attention that was supposed to be for him.

For Rika the relief from pain was the greatest of them all. She threw her arms around her ex-teacher and grinned. Wren didn't hug back, but Rika knew that he was very selective with his affection. She knew that only she and possibly Demi had ever seen it before. The numan girl looked up at her friend's face and finally noticed what she had missed before. Now free of her haze of pain, her smile drained from her lips. "Oh my gosh. Wren, what happened to your _face_?" She asked.

Well, he certainly hadn't cut himself shaving, that was for sure. Chaz watched Wren think for a second, processing a response. Would he tell the truth to her or lie? The hunter didn't really know if androids _could_ lie, it seemed like an action too palman for a machine to reproduce. He thought that he would feel better if he knew that androids could only tell the truth, that way he'd always be able to take anything that Wren said as fact, not lies. Maybe then he'd be able to accept his words and not doubt them anymore.

Not for the first time, Chaz was disappointed. Wren looked away from Rika as he spoke. "I was careless. While Chaz and I were scouting out our path I accidentally broke a window. It was most unfortunate." What a liar! Chaz was heavily tempted to speak and catch him out then and there. He had gotten those wounds in combat while protecting Rika and Kyra, not from some stupid window. The open arches of the Air Castle weren't even fitted with glass anyway.

What reason would Wren have to lie about it? Against his better judgement Chaz kept his mouth closed and remained quiet, leaning up against the wall. Rika looked sorry for him and Kyra appeared at her side. Now that her wounds were healed the outrageous energetic zeal of the esper girl had returned. She peered up at Wren like a short doctor analyzing a tall patient. "Is that synthetic blood or something else?" She questioned him, pointing to his wounds.

"It is synthetic, yes, but the cell structure is very similar to palmans, only artificial. That symbol, techniques and medicines will not work on me, and my recovery function is for my mechanical parts only. It is alright. I will only have scars. Hey!" Wren explained calmly but then jumped a little when Kyra reached up and grabbed hold of one of his audio sensors, pulling him down to her height. He had no choice but to obey her, or else she might break a part of him.

When the young esper neophytes refused to listen to her anymore, grabbing them by the ear and barking instructions seemed to be the only way to properly handle them. Who knew it would also work on hugely powerful androids as well? It did, and Kyra was pleased. Rika gasped sharply and then giggled mischievously. It looked kind of funny to her. "There's no point in letting them heal normally and have ugly scars if there's a quick fix right here. Don't worry, just let good 'ol Kyra lend you a hand. Okay?"

Wren nodded and Kyra let go. He stood up straight again, looking at her suspiciously. He wanted to be free of the wounds but didn't know what Kyra was planning. "What did you have in mind?" He asked warily.

The Lutz, the hunter and the numan all looked to Kyra for an answer, and also for some free entertainment. The short-haired girl was happy to oblige. She was outshone by her reverent leader in their small party, but this was her own special little moment in the limelight. Kyra grinned. "I'm going to perform a magic trick, and you are going to be my subject. Rika and Rune," she glanced at the both of them, "go and stand over where Chaz is sitting, and you Wren, you go and sit down on the other side of the room over there." She gestured at the location with a wave of her hand.

Rune already had an idea on what she was going to do. Rarely he obeyed orders but nevertheless he followed the girl's instruction and stood close to Chaz. He had a twisted smile on his face. Rika eagerly plopped down by Chaz's side, sitting cross legged on the floor like a student eager to learn. The young hunter was internally debating whether to put his arm around her or not when he heard a soft clank, which was Wren doing as Kyra said without complaint. The esper girl stood between her audience and her subject. "Ladies and gentlemen!" She announced, but then started to laugh. After a few seconds she stifled her titters and continued. "Everybody watch this!"

Grasping the edge of her long white cape, she pulled it to the side and turned it into a curtain, obscuring Wren from the others. Chaz had seen something like this before, when he had only been a very little boy. There had once been a travelling magician passing through his village and he had made people disappear, conjured rabbits and doves from seemingly nowhere and could read any number at all from a child's mind. It had seemed like real magic to him back then, was he going to see it reproduced here and now? Was Kyra going to make Wren disappear, or turn him into a rabbit or a dove? Now _that_ would be an amazing trick to see. "Kyra, are you sure about this?" Wren said from where he was sitting, a little apprehensive.

"Shh, be quiet and close your eyes, I need to concentrate now." Kyra answered softly, closing her own eyes. She had to block out all her senses and focus, focus hard. Slowly she raised her other hand and held it out in front of her cape, her fingers bent into a certain shape so as to represent a magical runic symbol. From the audience Rune recognised it as readily as somebody trying to show him the letters 'A', 'B' or 'C'. A faint green glow appeared around Kyra's hand and she changed its shape a little to represent a different symbol, then spoke a single word under her breath.

"Medice."

Just like that, it was done. Kyra opened her eyes and drew her cape away. Behind it sat a very blankly bewildered Wren. Kyra has said a word and it had felt like he had been pulled backward and shoved forward at exactly the same time. The android stood and touched his face. The wounds were completely gone, even the dried smears of synthetic blood that had been streaked over his face and armor had disappeared as well. Wren wasn't usually astonished, but this was a strange situation. He blinked in surprise. "What did you do to me?" He said quietly, knowing that Kyra was having a field day.

"A magician never tells her-, oh hell, I'll tell you anyway." Kyra laughed with absolutely no willpower at all. Rune shook his head at the patience of the young espers these days, although he was one to talk himself. "My medice spell doesn't really repair damaged cells like the res techniques and medicines do, it operates in a different way. When I was studying to be an esper my specialty the was magic of time and space, gravity and the like." Kyra was beaming with pride. "Medice is a time spell. Instead of repairing cells it turns back time for them, resetting to a moment when the body was unharmed. I took you back a day, Wren, even though you're still in the here and now your body is one day younger. Cool, huh?"

It was pretty damn cool once you thought about it. Rika's eyes were bright and shining with disbelief. "So _that's_ why you asked if he had synthetic cells or not!" Kyra nodded and rubbed the back of her neck. Modesty, after a long period of being missing in action returned to her. Chaz and Rika applauded the trick and Rune nodded his head a little to indicate that he had paid attention. In a way that was even more wonderful than the applause itself. She had been praised by the reverent fifth incarnation of Lutz! Even if he _was_ an arrogant git, it was still pretty amazing.

Wren thanked Kyra for her help. With the entire party finally all healed, and also with a little arguing between Rune and Chaz, they agreed to take an hour's rest. Rune didn't like the idea but Chaz pressed at it anyway until he caved in. Yet Rune was not entirely defeated, in exchange for an hour's rest Chaz was dubbed elite guard of the symbol room and was sent outside to do his duty, to guard. He left grumbling all the while. Rika and Kyra cuddled up together in the corner of the symbol room and tried to get in a quick hour of sleep. When Rune tried to join them he earned his reward, a red mark on his cheek in the shape of a woman's handprint.

Chaz was in the courtyard now, looking up at the stars. He couldn't quite hear Rune from the inside properly but he could catch a low muffled mumbling that was probably the esper cursing. The stars were more interesting. Chaz liked the stars. He could make out several constellations from his vantage point in the Air Castle. The winged cat. The heroine. The strongman. The twins. They were all there. Many times he and Alys had camped in a hundred different places, tracing out the stars. Chaz felt a pang of homesickness and tried to force it away.

"What are you looking at Antares for?" Asked Wren softly as he stepped out into the courtyard himself. Chaz looked at him from his peripheral vision and then focussed on the star again, the tiny speck of light immediately losing all of his interest. Oh God. Not now. Not Again. What was it with Wren and his constant desire to be near him, especially when alone? Chaz could have been fooled the first time, but definitely not the second time. He was striking up a conversation too, which was unusual. Wren walked over to him and stood by his side, regarding the same star as he.

The hunter shrugged. He had never heard of that constellation before, it sounded like a word from an alien dialect. Wren was nearly a thousand years old. Maybe they had different names for things back in his day. "What's an Antares?" Chaz said with innocence.

The android almost smiled. He could have answered in many different ways. He could have said that Antares was a giant red dwarf star millions and billions of miles away. He could have said that it was dying, suffocating as it devoured itself in a last ditch effort to find fuel. He also could have said that it was already dead, that the tiny star they were looking at was illuminated by light that had taken centuries to travel here, lights from a distant age. Chaz would not have wanted to hear that. Instead Wren pointed and said; "Do you see that little red star there, in the heart of the Scorpirus constellation? It is named Antares."

The scorpirus, who would have rather been killed by its own sting than by the blade of a hunter, Chaz knew that constellation well. Images from the sky became legends, and the reverse was also true. Chaz wondered if he and his friends would someday be honored in that way, for saving all of Algo. You never know. He relaxed a little. He might not have had the chance to sleep like the others, but he wasn't going to spend his entire time here all tense and stressed. "Oh," he mumbled, "you learn something new every day. How are you feeling?"

Wren was a little taken aback at this. Very rarely did people ask him how he felt. Most organic beings assumed that he didn't feel at all. Chaz and his friends had not been like this, they were different. Answering a question like that was a bit of a luxury, but Wren knew exactly how he felt. He felt increasingly nervous each time he forced himself to speak with Chaz. Maybe he was teaching himself to be scared. "I feel no more pain. Now that the wounds are gone I feel… fine."

He wasn't sure how he knew, but Chaz could somehow sense that Wren was lying to him again. It had something to do with the inflection in his voice, or something deeper than that. Chaz turned to him and looked up. "Liar. I can tell that you're lying. You're so bad at it I'm amazed that the others didn't notice it earlier. Let me see." The hunter reached out and touched Wren's face with the back of his fingers. He was right on the fact that Wren wasn't telling the truth, but he totally misinterpreted the use of the word 'pain'. What he was feeling definitely wasn't physical. "Why did you lie to Rika about how you cut up your face?"

He allowed Chaz to touch him but didn't encourage it. Chaz had very soft, delicate fingers, not something one would usually find on a swordsman. Wren's senses were slightly different to that of palmans but that he could tell very well. Wren closed his eyes. "She would have blamed herself for my wounds, and because I believed that I was going to end up with scars, I did not want her to have a constant reminder of her guilt every time that she looked at me. That no longer matters now, because of Kyra."

Well, that was very touching. Sickening, almost. Chaz knew that he was a selfish person and that he wasn't the only one in Algo that cared for Rika, but somehow he wanted to be. Then she could only care for _him_ and Wren could not have her. Something relevant connected in Chaz's mind. Wren loved Rika, but he was only interested in him. That felt weird to think about. It didn't feel quite as horrifying as before, so maybe he was getting used to the idea. "Alright, I'll accept that excuse." The youth sighed, only half aware that he was gently caressing his friend's face. Apart from the fact that it was framed by metal, it was warm and felt no different than the visage of a palman.

Perhaps now he could accept the reason why he had chosen to kiss Chaz that night. Because he had wanted to was only a pretense, there was something else beyond that. Wren just couldn't see what it was. Once he did, though, he thought he could accept it. "Why must I seek acceptance or rejection from you, Chaz?" He asked in a tone warmer than he could usually conjure, leaning into the boy's touch.

"Well, because I…" He began, but then hesitated. Wren had a point. Why did he? Chaz certainly wasn't the boss of him. Although he was the leader of their group, that didn't really mean much. Wren was a fully grown android, so why did Chaz feel the need to make sure that he constantly did what was right? Wren wanted to be accepted by Chaz, but the young hunter had to first accept his ability to do that, to give Wren what he wanted or to take it away. Chaz's eyes widened. His hand ceased its gentle explorations of his friend's face, from the warm clean silkiness of his cheek to the strange tattoo-line that ran from the corner of his eye to his audio sensor. He realised what he was doing.

But Wren had not noticed that yet. He still had his eyes closed. "Please don't stop." He said quietly. "That feels good."

That was a little too much for Chaz's poor mind. He ripped his hand back as if it were on fire and took a step away from Wren, his eyes still wide. The android seemed to come back to reality and looked at him quizzically, confused. Chaz wanted to run away again and hide, just as he had hidden on the night of the kiss, but this was not a safe place for him to do that. There was nowhere for him to run, and he would not escape from his problems like a scared child a second time. When Wren stepped forward to ask what was wrong Chaz raised a palm up to silence him immediately. "Please…" He croaked in a weak voice. "Please go away for a little while. I'm sorry, but I need to think."

Wren didn't want to accept that. "But-" He started to say.

"Please!" Chaz shouted, loud enough for his friends to hear. He didn't care. "Just go away!"

He did as he was told. It was like kicking a puppy but Wren obediently vanished, either going back into the symbol room or taking a hike by himself. Chaz didn't bother to check because as soon as Wren had turned away he dropped to his knees, looking at the ground. Only the sound of steel boots treading on asteroid dust informed him that Wren had gone.

When that sound had ebbed away, Chaz broke down and cried.


	6. Battle & Bar Crawl

He didn't really know how, but Chaz pulled himself together again before they had to go. Nobody saw the tears that had been coursing down his cheeks, but everybody had, in some way or another known that something was terribly wrong. Rika saw it most of all and felt that she was the one closest to Chaz, but she still didn't know what to do. She was a bright girl, a resourceful girl, but she knew that her inexperience with people crippled her most of all. Chaz woke them all up after what seemed like an hour to him and his eyes were red and blurry, sore from too many tears. Rika just wanted to hug him then and there until he was happy again, but by that time Kyra was already stirring beside her and trying to push her away.

Whatever Chaz's problem was Rika didn't get a chance to find out about it. He had probably spent the entire hour thinking about Alys and how she was gone, the poor boy. Rune was woken up next and he was roused a lot quicker and easier than the two girls had been, for he had only just been dozing anyway. Wren was nowhere to be found and that was a big worry, until Chaz quietly spoke up and mumbled that the android had gone for a walk, and that he'd be back soon. Rune was bothered by this information and was more than a little pissed off, saying that Wren should have known better than to go wandering off on his own.

Guilt was added to Chaz's already formidable burden of shame, because he knew that Wren would have never taken that walk if Chaz hadn't ordered him to do so from behind his veil of fear. He had been afraid, and the only other option for him rather to run away was to make Wren disappear for him. What if he had ordered his friend to walk right into the face of danger? He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he had, he had already caused enough problems and pain because of his own inadequacy and he didn't want to add to it anymore. Wren's life was more important than his own stupid feelings, all his friends were, even Rune. He didn't want to lose them, he couldn't bear it if any one of them was lost. Just like Alys had been.

In the end Chaz had to convince himself that he wasn't trying to run from Wren or Rika, he was only trying to back away from the both of them and detach himself from his emotions, so he could look at his situation without panicking or being manipulated by desire. He couldn't do that in the Air Castle while all their lives were in danger, he just had to wait until they were all safe. At an inn or something, in town. A place where he wouldn't have to worry about death as often as he worried about life. Chaz hoped that Wren and Rika could wait until then.

Just as they were beginning to debate whether or not they should go and look for their missing comrade, Wren strolled through the entrance of the symbol room as nonchalantly as if he had come back from a walk along the beach. He seemed confused as to why everybody appeared to be so mad at him, defending his actions by saying that he had returned right on time for them to go. Nevertheless, he apologized for his absence anyway, if only to wipe the perpetual frown off Rune's face. He didn't even look at Chaz at all, which made the boy wonder if their relationship had gone back a step, back to silence and the cold shoulder. This should have pleased the youth who was still confused and afraid of his sexuality, but instead all it did was make him feel sadder still.

When Wren passed where Chaz was standing he could tell that the android smelt a little of burnt cannon fire, which probably meant that his so called 'walk' had been more of a 'take my aggression out on the first foe that I see' sort of thing. He didn't look hurt so Chaz didn't ask about it, although he was a little surprised that Wren would do something so petty. Everybody needed an outlet for their emotions, Chaz guessed. He looked over the members of his party. They all appeared to be ready, more prepared than Chaz could ever truly feel himself. Kyra with her slashers, Rune with his stave, Rika with her claws, and Wren with his cannon. Chaz's grip on the handle of his sword tightened.

"Lets go." He said.

The three creatures lived up to their expectations. Chaz and his party found them holed up in some kind of room built for meditation or worship, but although _they_ were the ones who ambushed them they were still in for a nasty surprise. The creatures were hugely powerful and bore the same magical traits as highly trained espers, working together seamlessly like they shared the same mind and thoughts. Rune held his suspicions that they were the souls of fallen espers brought back by the powers of darkness and warped, turned to the side of evil. It brought great sadness into his heart to consider this but it also made him feel stronger, charged with resolve. He would send these dark spirits back to their places of rest.

Time and time again they were brought to the brink of near defeat, but each time they felt death clasping its cold fingers about their bodies they resisted, relying on each other for their lives. The three creatures would cast a spell in unison and summon a wave of red thunder that would all but incinerate Chaz and his friends, bringing pain unfathomable, unthinkable, a pain unable to even be described. The monsters were winning and they knew it, drawing great pleasure from watching the insignificant worms rise up and retaliate again and again and again.

Chaz was the heart, if not the brain of their party. Sometime during the fight the tactical part of his mind rose up and ordered him to shout; "Beat them one at a time! Go for the left one! Break their concentration!" That was one thing to be said about inspiration, it is an unreliable force that cannot be controlled, but sometimes it has perfect timing. All the weeks and months of fighting as a team bore its fruit. Rune and Wren heard Chaz's shout and reacted just as the creatures had, finely turned to the same wavelength. There was no time to think and ponder during combat, all one could do was listen, feel, and act.

That being said, it was almost scary how efficiently the two caught onto Chaz's orders. The girls hadn't heard him over the roar of the spells and magic but were experienced enough to be alert to the movements of their party. When three of the five members of your group finally focus on a target all you can do is follow suit or risk being outnumbered. Chaz was young, and he had been a little strange for the past week or so, but in the heat of combat he became their leader. A true leader, one Alys could have been proud of. His potential was right there, the creatures were succeeding in drawing it out of him.

The only thing that could touch him was pain, and that was only physical pain, a weak watery comparison to his troubles as of late. The unrequited love of Rika, his disturbing feelings towards Wren. Missing Alys Bragwin's company, and of course being responsible for the safety of the people of Algo. All of it, it all just melted away within the clashing of his sword. He felt totally empty inside, vacant save for his energy and his fighting skills. It was wonderful, and he was free.

Even with Chaz's commands the battle was no easier, but it felt like they had a plan now, a purpose. The creatures screamed more from anger than pain and struck Rune down where he stood, but he was immediately replaced by an enormously enraged Kyra. The room was charred and burning from an overzealous use of Wren's burst rockets, but a wall of fire had sprung up from out of the debris. It cut the targeted left creature off from its brothers while a closer look at the flames would have revealed that the wall of fire was purposefully made, highly flammable trimate spilt in a caging line across the ground.

From across the room Rika screamed as she was struck by a tandle spell, but her life was spared by Kyra nearby, countering with an effective warla skill. With the stealth of a thief Chaz slipped his way through the wall of flames then approached the targeted creature from the side, sheathing his sword. This was not the weapon he needed for now. A great man once said; the right tool for the right occasion. The creature was still preoccupied with the wall of flames right in front of its face, and the arsonist who had created it, Wren, who was being worn down by the creature's constant spells.

Long ago, when Chaz had been young and without hope, he had done some pretty horrible things. He could not be free of that past and he never would be, but at least he could use some of the skills from back then in order to survive now. Wren didn't look like he could hold out for much longer anyway. Could he see him behind the curtain of fire? Probably not, but he still had to act. From a hidden compartment in his belt Chaz Ashley drew a hunter's knife. It was getting difficult to breathe in his corner and the air was growing hot. He had heard somewhere that fire eats oxygen to stay alive. That was all well and good, but _he _needed it to live, too.

There was no time to suffocate. Chaz moved, then jumped. A distinct feeling of déjà vu caught him and he was almost nine years old and in the streets again, but then one hand closed around a fold of the creature's robe and his other arm swung forward to hold the knife blade out against the creature's neck. He wasted half a second to find the correct angle to do it right, then with a chilling calmness Chaz slit the creature's throat.

If the Hunter's Guild had seen that action Chaz would have been expelled for life, his license revoked. To kill a monster in that fashion was an extremely dishonorable way. He knew it was true, but he would rather be dishonorable and see his friends live than to see them die. He was good at it anyway and at least it had been a monster this time, not a palman. Despite the intense heat Chaz shivered and felt a little sick. Green blood spewed thickly from the clean wound and the monster tried to howl in pain, a fruitless effort because Chaz had cut its vocal cords as well. What was the point in slitting a throat if they screamed and gave their attacker away? The only noise it made was a feeble gurgle, then it fell away from him and was still.

Immediately the body became engulfed in fire. Chaz shrunk away from it and began to cough on the acrid smoke it produced, lightheadedness taking control of his mind. He hadn't really thought far beyond that stealthy move and now he found himself taking the place of the creature, backed away in a corner with the flames closing in. His face felt hot and burnt but also pouring with sweat, the salt slightly agitating the burns. He had cut their problems down by a third, the others would notice that. The others would rescue him, right? He didn't want to take a chance. "Help!" Chaz cried, using up most of his rapidly diminishing oxygen supply. "I'm burning to death!"

The only reply he got was the gruesome crackle of the fire feeding off the body of his slain enemy. Chaz had seen Wren out there earlier, he had started this unnatural fire, surely he had heard Chaz's cry for help. The flames had grown taller and had become thicker since Chaz had first slipped through, he half suspected that the creature's spilt blood had stoked it in some way. He was trapped.

Or not. There was a flash of blue light and suddenly the wall of fire became a wall of ice. It was snap frozen in minute perfection, each little licking flame captured perfectly in cold glass. Whoever had done that had one _hell_ of a nawat spell. Rune. He must have heard! And not only Rune either. The ice fire shattered as it was struck hard on the outside and part of Wren appeared, making a moderately sized hole in the wall. Without so much as a word he grabbed Chaz roughly by the arm and hauled him through.

Chaz thought he could have been a lot gentler as the hunter drew blood in several places, being pulled through the jagged hole in the looking glass. He knew there was no time to be gentle in the middle of a battle, but that didn't stop him from crying out in annoyance as Wren tossed him carelessly to the side like an empty weapon magazine. He jarred his knee badly on a piece of crumbled stone and tears prickled behind his eyes, triggered by both pain and other emotions. No, he could not let other thoughts bleed into his mind! Not now!

"Stay down!" Wren roared as the hunter half rose and rubbed at his knees, trying to pull his sword from its sheath with his other hand. Rune glanced at him with fatigue-laden eyes from Wren's side and saw what was about to happen. One of the two remaining creatures not currently being ripped to shreds by Kyra and Rika was readying a hewn spell, preparing to throw it at Chaz's neck. The boy was next in line for a swift decapitation and he didn't even know it yet.

Frowning, Rune did what needed to be done. Trying to time his spell casting perfectly the esper raised his staff and hit the blond boy hard with a gravity spell, sending Chaz sprawling straight onto the ground again. He made a bit of an 'ugh' sound as he hit the floor but his armor must have saved him from most of the hurt. Meanwhile the sharp spinning saw made of compressed air screamed over his body and slammed against one of the purple stone pillars, slitting it in half. The spell was so refined that the pillar didn't even budge.

Rika leapt onto the creature like a wild animal. It tried to slap her away with its armored skeletal nails but she was way too quick for it, ripping into its front with her claws. Chaz stood for a second and coughed up blood, but now he was aware of his surroundings and threw his right arm out in the direction of his enemy, his fingers spaced to create a technique. There was a clear space for his attack save for Rika gripping onto the creature as she fought. If she had any sense or awareness of her surroundings she would get out of the way in time.

Her escape was way too close for comfort but she made it anyway. She sensed Chaz behind her, about to use his githu ability and kicked off with her legs while balancing on the creature's front, propelling herself away. Rika didn't quite get the clean and easy exit that she had hoped for though, as the creature's claw came across and ripped down along her bodysuit and part of her thigh, drawing her blood. That crime was avenged when Chaz's githu erupted from his fist and punched through the heart of the monster like a laser, searing its flesh within and without.

Wren covered Rune with overhead fire while the esper knelt and used his rever spell to bring Kyra back into consciousness, repaying her for the help she had given him when he had been in the same position. They didn't have protection for long though as a tandle spell struck the android and immediately rendered him inactive, Wren collapsing into a heap like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut. Rune heard a thud to his right and glanced over his shoulder to see the second creature prone on the ground, green blood pooling around a hole in its front. There was only one more to go, but they were not out of trouble just yet.

For one thing they were out of repair kits and had to leave Wren where he was lying, trusting that he would be able to repair himself on his own. Chaz stepped around him and offered Kyra a hand up, pulling her to her feet. Rika appeared by his side. The four of them looked into the slitted eyes of their last enemy, the largest foe of the three. For now, for one brief moment, all the fighting stopped. The blond hunter was the voice of their team. Standing in front of Rune made him appear short, but his words were strong. "Where is the eclipse torch?" He demanded. "Tell us now, or die."

By this time the creature knew that it had underestimated them. There was no other way to go but forward into death, to join its brothers, or to face the wrath of its master. The correct choice was self evident. It raised its longer-than-normal arms high into the air, screaming a curse as a response. It was going to hit them with the strongest spell that it could muster on its own. Chaz was not going to let that happen. From the corner of his mouth he whispered to his esper friend; "Efess." Rune nodded grimly, understanding. There was no discussion, no argument at all.

Chaz broke from his cover and ran forward, raising his sword up high. He was running straight into the arms of the enemy, and as he did so he noticed just barely that his sword in hand was beginning to glow a very pale blue. That was reassuring. From behind him Rune held his staff way up right, summoning the highest power that he possible could. It strained him horribly, induced a terrible migraine, but he was lending all of his power to Chaz. The shorty had better use it well.

He had done this a thousand times before, in training and in combat. The crosscut skill was his special attack, something as unique to Chaz as his personal signature. This time however, thanks to Rune, it felt like his sword and body were possessed by blue light, his sword arm held and cradled by the hand of a giant, maybe even a god. His first slash came horizontally, cutting a beam of turquoise across the belly of the beast, then without a break in his strike his arm angled up smoothly and slashed downwards, bisecting his first swing in half. It looked like a cross, wreathed in near-holy light. Grand cross. Chaz pulled away.

The attack burst into a shining radiance that covered the final creature, each of the four prongs of the cross thickening and touching one another, transforming into a circle. It devoured the evil monster in its brilliance and its screams of horror and agony could not be drowned out by the light, it seemed to amplify them like a loudspeaker system. The hunter closed his eyes to keep his retinas from burning, but knew that he could not be physically harmed by the cross - only truly evil souls would feel the pain. All Chaz felt was a very gentle, almost pleasant warmness about his body.

He only dared to open his eyes again once both the screaming and the warmth had died down. He stumbled away from the creature until his foot hit a rock and he nearly fell over again, but a pair of arms caught him and he knew he was safe. Chaz looked up into Rika's kind blue eyes and suddenly felt ten times better. He hugged her briefly before his shyness caught up with him again and he retreated, moving over to Rune. The esper was lying on the ground near Wren, his usually fine complexion waxy and sheened with sweat. It looked like somebody had sucked the life right out of him, and of course, somebody had. Chaz had. "You alright, Rune?" He asked lamely.

"Gee, what do you think, you damned vampire?" Rune griped sourly from his place on the floor, sarcastically but mostly in jest. He would be alright. He sat up and glanced at the pile of ashes scattered upon the floor in the shape of the deceased monster. Even if it had taken a great deal of his energy to do it, their enemies were dead. Chaz winced at being called a vampire and looked hurt. Rune sighed and took it back. "You're not a vampire. Quit that sulking face, I gave that energy to you of my own free will. I'll tell you what, you owe me a drink back at Ryuon, got it?"

Chaz brightened at that. "Yeah," he chimed, "drinks for everybody."

He kept his word. They had made a fair amount of progress in the Air Castle but they were now all tired and hurt. That hurt could be cured quite easily by the magical symbol at the heart of the building, but after a fight just like that one they all needed a break. Rika in particular wanted to check on Raja to see how he was holding up with his illness. Kyra also wished to see her esper friends in Meese again. Chaz and his company had a quick conference while they healed one another and decided to head back to Dezoris, spend the night in Ryuon, and then head on over to Meese the next day. After that they would come back to the castle and deal with Lassic personally.

Rune cast his hinas spell and magically relocated his party back to the Landale, sitting there silently and calmly like a steel behemoth. It had not been tampered with in any way and the ride back to the planet of ice was smooth and uneventful. Wren piloted while the others played cards. They had used to let him play with them back when he was only a new addition to their group, but they swiftly found out that he made the game far too difficult. Rune liked to be the top dog, he'd rather win all the time instead. The four hours of their trip were mostly filled in with silence and games. Halfway in Chaz retired to his cabin, sick of Rune's winning streak. Even _Rika_ was beating him.

It was night by the time that they got down to Dezoris and took the ice digger through the storm to the small town of Ryuon. Tyler was much closer to the spaceport and was also a palman settlement, which would have made most of their party feel more at home, but nothing beat the drinks and company that could be found at Gyuna's little bar. That's where Chaz, Rune, Rika, Kyra and Wren found themselves at when all was said and done. The bar was emptier than usual because of the constant storm raging on outside, but there were a good number of green-skinned dezorians at the tables and even a few palmans dotted here and there, mixing with the sparse crowd.

Chaz had only been to a few bars in his life due to his age, so he couldn't help but be reminded of the Aiedo Pao-Pao in the Hunter's Guild, except that this bar was much smaller and there was far less female entertainment to be had. In fact, it seemed like Rika and Kyra were the only girls in the establishment at the moment, although he couldn't quite be sure about a few of the dezorians around him. The closest thing they would get to entertainment would be if Gyuna himself jumped up on the bar and did a dance for them all. Chaz snorted at the silly thought, then got a bad picture in his mind and regretted it immediately.

He shouted them all drinks so as to keep his word. Chaz was not a poor man due to the constant demand for his work at the guild, so he could easily afford it. His party sat at the bar rather than picking out a table for themselves, leaving them close to the bartender. He and Rune ordered something largely alcoholic that neither could pronounce in the dezorian tongue, but it didn't taste too bad for something that felt like a punch in the face. Kyra hesitated, looking at Chaz in a disapprovingly sisterly way, then ordered something a little weaker that seemed to have milk in it. Wren insisted that the only thing he could safely drink was pure water, so he had a glass of that, and Rika settled for sweet non-alcoholic fruit juice. It had been an amazingly stressful day for all of them, and just like the good little adventurers that they were, it ended at the bottom of a glass.

Talk quickly ended up sailing over Chaz's head. He thought for a bit over the money he had lost to Rika and Rune during the card games, but mostly his mind kept on backtracking to the moment that he slit that creature's throat. It had been so easy then, one quick motion and then it was all over with. It had felt so familiar too, so natural. Poor Alys had spent seven years trying to train that kind of lifestyle out of his system, but after only one complicated battle it had all come rushing back to him, like a tide. Chaz felt sickened, ashamed, and subconsciously tied it to another aspect of his life in which his morals were slipping.

He looked at Wren, who was acting strangely outgoing to a middle-aged dezorian a seat away from him. They seemed to be talking about the unusual weather as of late. Chaz took another sip of his drink and looked into its strange, purplish depths morosely. Maybe now that Alys was gone he was slowly beginning to revert back to the criminal he had once been. Somebody who could slit a throat without a second thought, and could kiss and desire another man even when that person wasn't really another man at all. He was an android, an object, like a sword or a computer terminal. Chaz felt cold all over, then forced himself to look again. He almost hated Wren for starting all of this and then neglecting to finish it, leaving Chaz in limbo, and now he could discuss the weather with some stranger while Chaz suffered? Bastard.

"You shouldn't drink that stuff if you can't handle it." Rune scolded the young hunter softly, mistaking Chaz's sour look as something else. The boy turned a pained expression towards the esper and Rune seemed to understand his hurt, at least upon the surface. He could see that Chaz was drinking like somebody who wanted to forget, and damned if Rune didn't understand that feeling himself. Since Alys had died Rune had slowly gravitated towards being Chaz's guardian, so he was not entirely free of responsibility towards him. Rune smirked in a knowing, borderline drunk way. "Oh, I can guess what it is. You're thinking about those battles today, aren't you?"

"Rune, do you think I've changed?" Chaz asked him carefully, staring down at the bar. Beneath the constant rumble of many people talking at once, the clink of glasses being rattled, emptied and refilled, somebody was playing music. It sounded like a native folk tune, played on guitar, some kind of brass flute and a drum. The air was thick and heavy with tobacco smoke. This was a place to listen, ponder and regret. Chaz seemed to be doing the latter two, for once not acting like a whiny child. He closed his eyes, sighing. "Do you still think I'm me, or did I lose myself somewhere down the line?"

He paused, thinking, then laughed a little into his drink. The fact that Chaz would say something like that at all proved that he hadn't changed much. Rune had known him a couple of months and was convinced that Chaz wasn't just an ordinary brat, he was a brat with definite potential. Chaz was growing. Maybe that made him nervous. "We're always us," he reassured the young hunter, "that's one thing that never changes. But regardless of that we change anyway and that's life. We gotta keep up with it, even if we don't like it." Rune finished his glass all at once and coughed a little as the bite hit him. "You _have_ changed, but think of it as a good thing."

Chaz found that kind of funny. Rune didn't understand him and never would, yet it was satisfying to know something that the esper didn't know. He wondered what he would think if he knew that Chaz was seriously considering dual relationships with both Rika _and_ Wren. He tried to imagine the expression on Rune's face if he voiced his mind, that he wanted to get his android friend good and alone in some isolated place and then kiss him until he ran out of breath. Chaz smiled. "Yeah, alright. Whatever. So what if I hate this 'changed' me? What if I want to go back to the way I was? I'm tired of being so confused over everything."

"Well, you can't do that. Them's the breaks." Rune replied casually, not knowing how severely his words would affect Chaz. He wasn't used to thinking so deeply while he was supposed to be relaxing. He reserved that for when he was sober. It had been an hour and three drinks since he left that frame of mind. In essence, talking to Rune was pointless at the moment. Minutes passed between the both of them in silence, then unexpectedly the esper's head jerked up as he recognized a tune that the musicians were playing. "Hey, that's 'Auntie's Wooden Leg'! I know that one!" He began to add in the lyrics to the tune, breaking out into a grin.

He had a pretty horrible singing voice, and he didn't notice it when Chaz folded his arms on the table, rested his head against them and started to cry silently. Anybody who passed by just assumed that he was trying to fall asleep within his circle of friends. But he was sitting between Rune and Rika and the numan girl noticed the way that his shoulders were shaking at irregular intervals. She didn't know why he was crying, but she guessed it had something to do with the difficult fight earlier. Maybe he was slipping into post-traumatic shock. Chaz was such a dear, gentle soul. No matter what life had attempted to mould him into it would not be able to change that.

She put an arm around him and began to rub his back, knowing that something like this would help him to ease his crying. It was much easier to do so considering that Chaz wasn't wearing his armor at the moment, he had left it at the inn, so that gave Rika unlimited access to his back, neck and shoulders. A weak, stunted snuffling sound was drawn from Chaz's throat as the only indication that he noticed what Rika was doing to him. It felt good, but it also felt like he didn't deserve it. "Chaz?" Rika said quietly, speaking only to him. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, rocking it against his arms, then sat up straight and met Rika's gaze. His cheeks were flushed mostly from drink but his eyes were watery and wet, so he rubbed at them with a sleeve of his red bodysuit. Chaz smiled sadly, like a child who had done something unforgivably wrong. He looked so vulnerable to Rika, and that of course endeared him dramatically to her. "It's nothing. It just feels like I've been trapped in some sort of snare and everybody will hate me if I do what I really want to do. I'm so pathetic, aren't I?" He mused.

Where had all of Chaz's self confidence gone? The stuff that she had seen so often in battle? It was true that most of Chaz's experience in combat and dangerous situations had been made when he was only a subordinate, a trainee to Alys Bragwin, but he really had been shaping up into an excellent leader. One only had to look at their last battle to see that. Rika cared for Chaz very deeply, because he had been the one to help bring her out into the world. "Do you want to run away from our mission? Is that what you're saying?" She ventured, trying to guess his worries. He had been there at the very start and therefore carried the greatest burden. It would not be pathetic at all if he felt overwhelmed.

Chaz blinked several times at Rika's tentative accusation. Running away from the battle was the last thing that he would ever do. He owed his very existence to Algo and had pledged his life to protect it. That wasn't the problem at all. Rika was missing the point entirely, but that was okay. He hadn't even noticed yet that he was speaking so casually to a girl he would have gotten unbearably tongue-tied over scarcely a week ago. "No, no, don't be ridiculous." Chaz argued. "It's not like that at all. Just… well, what would you think of me if I found myself attracted to somebody who isn't a palman? Like a motavian, or a dezorian or something like that. Would you think I was weird? Would you think poorly of me for that?"

Rika knew that she wasn't a palman either. She blushed a little, wondering what Chaz was trying to talk to her about. Genetically that sort of attraction was useless in a biological sense, because it would not result in continuation of his species. Psychologically, however, anything went. In Rika's personal opinion she found that what Chaz was talking about would be a _little_ weird, but she would never think any less of him for it. She loved Chaz too much to get caught up in silly stuff like that. Rika shook her head resolutely. "What I would think shouldn't matter to you, because as long as you can find happiness somewhere that should be the only thing that counts."

Every time Chaz wanted to hear a particular answer he always got the opposite of what he wanted. He didn't want to be told that everything was alright or that whatever he wanted to do would be accepted. He wanted his bad feelings to be justified, to be told that they were truly wrong and that he should accept it. But whenever he attempted to reach out to people they tried to warp the way that he felt into something that sounded like a damn self-help booklet. He was truly sick of it. So instead of looking as relieved as Rika thought he would be, Chaz stood up from his bar stool and thumped a handful of meseta down on the bench. Rika glanced at him, her query unspoken. "I'm going to bed now." Chaz muttered lowly. "See you tomorrow."

He stumbled away before she could reply. There was a bit of a sway to his step, he hadn't slurred at all in his speech but he was definitely drunk. Not as bad as Rune, who was now hanging out with Kyra and bedazzling her with an imitation of Gyuna's accent, but drunk enough to get swallowed up in his own depression and loneliness. Rika sighed deeply, aware that she hadn't helped things much. She had probably said exactly what Chaz didn't want to hear. Still, now she knew a little more about what Chaz's problem might be. He was afraid he might be attracted to somebody who wasn't a palman.

Who could that be? Kyra was an esper, a different branch of the palman species. Could it be her? Maybe. Who else? Certainly not Demi, although the little service android was quite cute in her own sprightly way. Rika herself? Impossible. She was only a science experiment, barely one year old. Somebody as interesting and special as Chaz would not want her.

Rika turned back to the bar mutely and stared at her fruit juice, wishing that she had asked for something with alcohol in it earlier. Who was she kidding, anyway? Whoever it was that Chaz looked for, it would not be her.


	7. A Lesson In Life

(A/N: This chapter is one of the reasons that this shonen-ai fanfiction is rated M. It contains a semi-sex scene, so those who wish to avoid that sort of thing should not read. Just a warning. I hope everybody is enjoying the fic!)

By around midnight most of Chaz Ashley's little group had already retired to the inn. Rika had followed Chaz about half an hour later, having waited just long enough to estimate that he would be in his room by now. She didn't want to talk to him any more that night, and with good reason. Kyra and Rune left with their arms about one another, singing sea shanties together once the pile of money Chaz had left at the bench had run out. Rune had a bit of an ulterior motive with where he put his hands on Kyra, but most of his coordination was spent on walking so it didn't seem to progress much further than that. The crowd at Gyuna's bar was thinning out nicely, leaving only the regulars and one android that the others had forgotten was there.

In many ways Wren had a rather simplistic view of things. He did not sleep or require rest in the way that palmans understood it, and he was not looking forward to spending several empty hours in his inn room all alone. He didn't think he could slip into standby mode if he tried, due to everything that had happened in the day. If he stayed at the bar at least he'd still have people to listen and talk to, even if they were strangers to him. It was better than nothing.

Wren's presence in the bar had turned into something of a novelty as the night wore on. Most, of not all of the drinkers there had never seen an android before and found him understandably curious, while others just assumed him to be a strange-looking palman wearing a lot of metal armor. He got plenty of mixed reactions out of people, and in all honesty, Wren enjoyed the attention in his own way. Mostly it was because he rarely spoke to people, but it also had to do with the idea that these were a sample of the people that he had dedicated his long life to maintaining. It was like giving a face and an identity to something that was usually just statistics on a computer screen.

He had also achieved something of a friendship between two other people at the bar. One was a tall dezorian that was more of an olive shade rather than the traditional green colour, and the other was a young palman man visiting from the town of Tyler. He had become snowed in during some kind of business transaction and couldn't get back to his family until the storm showed signs of weakening. He still had a long time to wait, Wren thought. They weren't that bad for people he had only met hours ago though, despite their noticeable intoxication.

"So, like, if you're really like a walking talking doll and stuff, are you good with numbers and things? I'm just asking because I'm curious. My gramma used to say that they were really super smart." The palman moved away a little as he spoke, making room for the three musicians leaving the inn with their packed-up instruments, finished for the night. He nearly spilt his drink on the guitarist, who glared at him accusingly.

"Hey, don't put him on the spot like that, Roland," admonished the dezorian cheerfully, "he's not a toy. But just conversationally, what's a hundred squillion million plus three?" He asked. "I'll buy you a beer if you tell."

"The answer is one hundred squillion million and three. That would be the most accurate calculation, except that there is no such numerical unit called the 'squillion'. It does not exist, and therefore I cannot give you an accurate reply." Wren said seriously enough to make the dezorian and palman descend into uproarious laughter. Wren scowled. "Stop laughing at me. I shall cease speaking with the both of you if you continue like that."

"Sorry." Said Roland, calming down. "Yeah, it's not nice of us to make fun of a new friend, just pretend that Valos and I are hazing you, Wren. It's all in good fun. Did you want that beer now?" He lowered the hand that he was going to signal Gyuna with when Wren shook his head and turned down his offer. Roland smiled and started to amuse himself by playing with a small silver pocket knife that he had pulled off his belt. The action reminded Wren a little of Chaz and his daggers, although he preferred to use a sword more often these days. "So tell me, how come you're still here with us losers while all your friends have disappeared?"

Wren stared at Roland, and then at Valos in a blank yet appraising way. Gyuna was also listening quietly to the three of them as well, cleaning glasses at the same time. For some reason Wren wanted to tell the truth, because they were people he would probably never meet again and he didn't have to keep secrets from them, unlike his party. The two of them had been trying to get Wren to talk about himself all night anyway, so why not oblige them? He stared at the water left in his glass. He didn't even want to drink it, he had only ordered it so that he'd have something to look at. "I feel like a loser right now, so this is possibly the correct place for me to be. No matter how I choose to approach the situation, I constantly make mistakes. There must be something wrong with me."

"Well, in the brotherhood of losers there is always room for one more." Valos intoned sagely, still somehow cheerful in the wake of what he was saying. He was quickly becoming the most optimistic dezorian that Wren had ever met. Valos clapped a hand on his shoulder plate in a friendly manner. He was taller than the android, which seemed hard to believe, but Wren had to look up at him as he talked. "What's your problem, old chum? Is it the storm? Some girl? Financial instability? Problems with the church?"

Some girl was really the closest one in relation to his problems with Chaz. He didn't know how his new friends would react to Wren saying that they had gotten the gender wrong, so he decided not to mention it. Chaz wasn't really a girl, but in some cases he had acted distinctly feminine and that was enough. Wren nodded, but then noticed the confused looks he got from Valos and Roland then added; "Yes, some girl. That is my problem. She loves another, but she continues to show interest in me, though it disturbs her to do so. It is obviously because I am a machine, but I…" Wren stopped talking for a moment, aware that he was signing himself away to a major change of heart, "I want her to like me back, because I am very fond of her."

The unusual and unique situation piqued Roland's interest. For all the monotone Wren had used to explain his problem, both he and Valos could see that Wren was quite serious and involved with what he was saying. Roland put his shiny knife away. "Well, you only hear a story like that once in a blue moon. It tugs at the heartstrings. We should help him, shouldn't we Valos?" The dezorian grinned and agreed with him. Roland brushed dirty blond hair out of his face and gave Wren a conspirator's smile. "For it just so happens that I have heard a tale like yours once before, except for the part about you being a machine and stuff. It reminds me of me, right after I first met my wife. We've been together for five years, you know."

"Tell the whole truth," Valos chided happily, "tell him that you've spent most of those five years dodging dinner plates thrown at your head. He and his missus have gotten really close into turning it into a local sport. But before, aye before, talk about star-crossed lovers…" He swigged his beer thoughtfully, then studied the white dregs at the bottom with a careful eye. "I remember cryin' at the wedding."

"Both you sods should stop aimlessly rambling and get back to the stuff that the lad wants to hear about. You're going to start confusing him." Gyuna interrupted from the other side of the bar, reprimanding the others while he flipped a red and white checkered tea towel across his shoulder. Eavesdropping was usually considered to be quite rude and an invasion of privacy, but this was Gyuna's bar and it had become famous as a center for information trade. A little eavesdropping never hurt anybody in the end. Gyuna regarded Wren kindly. "You're one of Raja's friends, aren't you? In that case I'd be more than willing to help. You're looking for dating advice, right?"

If Wren was more susceptible to blushing, he would have done so right then and there. "A-Affirmative." He managed to choke out, dealing with feelings of embarrassment for what felt like the first time. "For a very stubborn girl."

"Have you fucked her yet?" This question came cheekily from Roland.

This time Wren really _did_ turn slightly red. "What! Of course not! I cannot- I mean, how dare you ask me that! I am leaving!" He turned to go.

Smoothly Valos reached out and grabbed at Wren's elbow. He was still smiling, but in a very calming way. This was Valos' talent, aside from being inanely cheerful all the time, he had the patience and the ability to talk anybody out of anything. "Oh, don't go now buddy, we've only just started fixing up your problem. I reckon we'll be able to help you. Don't listen to Roland right now, he's an idiot when he's drunk. Actually, he's _always_ an idiot, but never mind about that. Stay a little longer, okay?" The amazing thing was that Wren actually listened to him. It took him nearly a minute to think about it, but eventually Wren gave in and agreed. It wasn't like anybody else was willing to help him, after all.

Roland grimaced as Valos kicked him warningly in the shin. "Well, christ, how was I to know he'd get all worked up over that?" He grumbled. "Prudish robots, so what… hm, how about this?" He was hit by inspiration and looked up suddenly after studying his feet for awhile. "So she don't like you because you're a machine? How about you try acting more like us? Like me, like a palman, I mean. You should drop the 'affirmative' bullshit. You sound like a textbook half the time."

"I am not a-" Wren refuted, but then realised that speaking in that manner was only proving Roland's badly worded point. He switched to a conjunction instead. "I'm not a textbook, but perhaps I do see your point. I mean, I understand you. No…" Despite their attempts to educate him simply, Wren was becoming confused anyway. He focussed hard, then perfected, or rather butchered his sentence. "I'm not a textbook, but I think I get it anyway. Is that right?"

"That's not a bad start, and if you practice like that often the right words will come to you much quicker." Valos praised, and then leant much closer to Wren's face. The android backed away from him on impulse, bumping up against the bar. Gyuna who was leaning over it chuckled. "One other thing you should probably think about changing is how much you stare at people. It's a little creepy is all. How do you like it now that I am staring at you?" Valos grinned a grin that made it seem like he would go straight for Wren's neck had he been vulnerable there. He didn't like it very much. "You should blink more often." The dezorian finished, straightening up again.

"Enough about changing him into somebody else, that's not the right way to do things." Said the old bartender, rapping his long fingers on the bench top. "He wants this girl to like him for who he is, not for who he could be. I'm not saying that Roland and Valos are giving you bad advice, because it is very good advice, but there is one thing you should know. I've been running this place for fifty years and I've heard hundreds of love stories in my time. If you want her to like you then be yourself, and let her be herself as well. There must be a reason why she came to you in the first place, so let her discover for herself what that might be. You only need to be patient."

"Nevertheless, I appreciate the advice all the same. I thank you three for helping me, and I believe this evening has not been wasted. In Roland's dialect that translates into; 'Thanks for all the help. I had a lot of fun.'" It was getting overly late and as interesting as the night had been, Wren wanted to get back to the inn before somebody woke up, realised that they had forgotten him and panicked.

"Gonna go see your sweetheart now?" Roland inquired with a deviously smarmy grin.

"In a sense." Wren assured him quietly, glad that he had met such nice people. If the subject had to be such an awkward one, at least the people he was discussing it with seemed like good souls. If this was only a sample of the sentient races on Algo, then Wren could see that they all deserved to live. He stepped away from the bar and waved a little. "This has been an experience for me. I hope we meet again someday."

"If you come back to this bar again then it's more than likely." Valos called out as Wren left the building, then once he was gone he turned to his palman friend who was yawning and rubbing at his eyes. The tall dezorian smiled crookedly. "Beautiful wife, eh Roland? Don't make me laugh."

Roland grimaced. He knew Valos was joking, Valos was _always_ joking, but even that pretend sting in his voice hurt him a little, sometimes. "Sorry, baby." He replied, trying to be smooth although it never really worked on him. "It's just kind of hard, you know, telling the truth like that to a perfect stranger. You'll forgive me?" He forecasted hopefully, wandering over and burying his face in Valos' tall front.

The dezorian put a hand on his messy blond head. He patted it softly. "Of course," he smiled, "but I've only ever thrown dinner plates at your head once before. Just saying." Roland murmured something that was totally muffled but somehow Valos understood it anyway. "Oh no," he warned happily, "it's your turn to pay tonight, darlin'."

All across the world, people are the same.

They just don't realise it.

Life's like that.

xxx

The inn was silent and seemingly empty as Wren slipped inside the building. He had been given a key earlier in the night and could still recall where his inn room was, down the corridor and next to Chaz and Rune's two quarters. Wren had walked the post-midnight streets of Ryuon completely without fear of who could be lurking in the shadows, because in the worst case scenario what could an attacker really do to him? Stab him? He could brush off something like that as if it had never happened at all. It was unlikely that anybody would be outside at night anyway, for it was almost impossibly cold. Wren's heating system was working nearly twice as hard to compensate. He pitied anyone who didn't have the same luxury as he.

The cold was much more bearable indoors. A roaring fire left carefully tended for the night heated the reception area of the building, and no doubt the private guest rooms of the inn would also have fireplaces of their own. Wood for fuel must have been a necessity in the frigid towns of Dezoris, as vital as food or water could be. Wren closed the door to the inn quietly and then locked it behind him, so that no other wandering vagabonds could get inside. The android tried to move with a moderate degree of quiet stealth so as not to be detected, but his life support systems always gave off a very low perpetual hum, something which could not be properly masked.

Wren's reason for being so quiet was because he didn't want to accidentally wake up his friends or anybody else at the inn, they needed their sleep. Mostly to sleep off the hangovers they were going to have once morning arrived, but that notion had yet to cross Wren's mind. He also felt sort of guilty for staying out all night with some people he had only just met, it sounded like a very irresponsible thing to do. Wren carefully avoided blundering over tables and benches and things craftily hidden in the low firelight, heading towards the guest rooms. He had many hours of driving ahead of him the next day, or more accurately today, so he might as well try to clear his mind before the morning broke.

The edge of his boot caught against one of the thin legs of a chair left askew, nearly tripping the android over. He had missed seeing it in the dark and Wren regretted not switching over to his night vision earlier, stumbling loudly in the midst of the silent room. His armor clanked a bit as he righted his balance and he looked at the chair distastefully, not amused. He would have sworn at it had he been a palman, then he recalled Roland's advice about acting more like one and tried to anyway. It was only then that realised that he didn't know any curse words to begin with. Wren improvised instead. "You blasted thing." He hissed, continuing on his way.

On those words the shadows near the entranceway to the guest rooms shifted a little, changing shape. Somebody stood up from where they had been sitting within the darkness in wait. It was the silhouette of someone familiar. Chaz Ashley moved forward with a grace that Wren would never be able to match and became more visible in the firelight, his blond hair almost orange in the dim glow. He knelt and righted the chair that Wren had tripped over, tucking it safely beneath the table. "I'm sorry." Chaz said as he finished up his task. "I forgot that I left it there."

The dark-haired machine worried that Chaz had heard him attempting to swear. He wasn't supposed to find out about Wren's efforts to change himself until he had made a considerable amount of progress in it, that way if he failed he wouldn't have anybody to disappoint but himself. "Chaz, it is nearly two in the morning. What are you doing up so late? The others retired hours ago." Wren asked in a stern half whisper. He was one to talk, but he was also old enough not to be bound by a curfew. _Plenty_ old enough.

Chaz looked up at him evenly. There was a sense of honesty in those eyes, but as he spoke the youth looked to the side. "I couldn't sleep. I tried for hours but nothing worked, so I figured I might as well wait up until you got back to the inn." He smiled a little bashfully, knowing how pathetic he sounded. He reached out and gently tapped the middle joint of two of his fingers against Wren's upper arm, as a very weak gesture of disapproval. "What took you so long to come back here? I know you can't drink, so what did you get caught up with for so long? Did you meet somebody?" Chaz added with a smirk.

"Yes." Wren replied without really dwelling on the meaning of Chaz's words. He wasn't quite good at catching underlying context just yet. When he saw Chaz's face fall it hit him and Wren backtracked sharply. "No. Not like that. I made some friends at the bar and we talked for several hours, is all. I have no personal interest in anybody else but you, Chaz. I did not know you were waiting here for me. If I had I would have left sooner. It is not fair for you to lose sleep due to my activities."

The young hunter sighed and turned, heading back towards the guest rooms. Wren followed close behind him, tracking Chaz's progress so that he wouldn't trip over another obstacle again. He didn't know why but Chaz felt relieved. The last thing he wanted to think about was Wren finally giving up on him and trying again with some girl Chaz had never met before, or some boy. It could be that he was just a very selfish person at heart, but he didn't want Wren to be the one to give up on their relationship. Chaz wanted to be the one to do that. He stopped outside his inn room. Wren followed suit. "I saw you talking with that dark blond palman before I left. He had his arm around you. I thought you were trying to replace me, because I was unsure and I yelled at you."

Had Chaz been thinking about that all this time? His hair was all messed up and disheveled from hours of attempted sleep. Something inside Wren's neural matrix seemed to give out at that thought. He had never caused someone to be jealous before, and disliked the way it could deeply hurt his friend without leaving a single scratch on his body. He came forward a little and placed both his metal hands softly on Chaz's shoulders. There was great tension in them, the young boy was not relaxed at all. "Nobody could ever replace you. You are unique. There is no need for you to feel envy. Erase it from your mind."

But Chaz couldn't, not just yet. He hadn't made any decision about Wren and Rika and what he was going to do about the both of them, but now it felt like all the control had been taken out of his hands and placed into the hands of another. Somebody invisible, with a sick sense of humor. Now Chaz was afraid that if he let go of the android in the slightest way he would disappear. He felt Wren's cool hands on his shoulders. Good, he was still there. Chaz shook his head a little. "I'm sorry I yelled at you today in the Air Castle. I realised what I was doing and I just panicked. I'm not used to… I mean, I never thought I might be gay until you touched me. I'm confused about all of this. Rune said I can't go back to being the person I used to be, either."

"I forgive you." Wren said easily, and he would have forgiven him much earlier if Chaz had asked for forgiveness sooner. He didn't like to see the young hunter in pain. Slowly he grasped Chaz's shoulders a little tighter and spun him around to meet his gaze, seeing that the boy had tears in his eyes. This was really getting to him. Wren smiled kindly and tilted Chaz's chin up a bit, so he wouldn't look down or away as he spoke. "And I never thought I would have any romantic preference at all until I allowed myself to touch you. Do you know what I was discussing with that blond palman for hours on end?"

Chaz shook his head. He had been too preoccupied with other things to eavesdrop. He hadn't really wanted to know anyway, in case it had confirmed his suspicions. "No." He said in a little quaver, afraid.

Wren lowered his hand. "We were discussing the correct manner for me to let you know that I like you too, Chaz Ashley. I believe that I do. I am not certain, but I want to think that I am. You can interpret this information in any manner that you wish, but I just want you to understand my thoughts." He had wanted to say that for awhile, had tried to say it earlier in the Air Castle, but he hadn't expected that it would be on the same night that Wren had committed himself to that decision. He felt amazingly drained, emotionally taxed, and he was scared of the way that Chaz might react to his words. If he freaked out again Wren didn't know what he would do.

He didn't have to be so frightened. Chaz bowed his head so that his short fringe obscured his eyes and allowed his feelings to fight against one another, honoring the one that won out at the end regardless of what it might be. Chaz's voice was a husky, timid whisper. "Kiss me Wren." He said.

It was such a relief to obey. Wren had never followed a command so eagerly before. He drew Chaz closer to his body and leant down a little, kissing him softly and sweetly without hesitation. Wren had done this twice before and he was getting progressively better at it as time went on. It was decidedly different this time around though, because it was consensual by both parties and Chaz cuddled up to Wren's front rather than pulling away from him. When the kiss broke Wren looked down into Chaz's wide green eyes and blinked. He flashed the boy an astoundingly sunny smile. "Yes." Wren replied with simplicity. If Chaz really wanted him then he was his.

That smile completely froze Chaz's thoughts. Wren had never smiled like that before, had never made an effort to look so happy and carefree. The change was amazing. It made him seem no different to a palman, and like that Chaz realised that Wren looked breathtakingly, stunningly handsome. He had said yes, that he liked him, that he wanted things to be this way. It was too much for Chaz's heart to cope with, but unlike his reaction in the Air Castle he did not run away.

Chaz made a very small noise that sounded like a cry and crushed his lips against Wren's without any of the gentleness that his friend had previously displayed, it was an act of possessive aggression. He wanted Wren to know that the only one who was allowed to kiss him was Chaz, and woe betide anybody else who dared to do the same. The android had to step back a little because Chaz had attacked him so forecefully, but he sort of liked the idea that Chaz was deciding to be so eager. He slipped an arm about the boy and sensed Chaz doing the same thing to him, holding each other close.

What Wren hadn't expected was to find Chaz's soft sinuous tongue trying to gain entry into his mouth. He had a chaste, childish knowledge of how to kiss based off sociology programmed into him and observation. What Chaz was attempting to do to him was something alien and foreign, maybe even a little bit scary. But he had gone too far to stop now, not when he had Chaz right where he wanted him. The reality of actually getting what he had selfishly desired left Wren unable to say no. In that spirit he obligingly opened his mouth a little to allow Chaz inside, listening to the hunter groan quietly in gratitude.

He was running on instinct alone. He was doing only what his body thought was right. Chaz's mind had taken a supplementary role the moment Wren had flashed that amazing smile at him. He was no expert at deep kissing, in fact he was very far from it, but Chaz knew that no palman would ever taste the same way as Wren did. He had a sharp, metallic taste, one that was not unpleasant but different to anything else that Chaz had ever tasted before. He invaded Wren's mouth like a conqueror, plundering everything within. Whoever it was that had created his friend must have been no less than a genius, for his tongue and the inside of his mouth were just as warm and as soft as his lips had been.

Wren bent whenever Chaz applied pressure to his body and supplicated to whatever it was that the youth wanted to do to him. He didn't have the instincts that would have told him what to do next, so he was more than happy to let Chaz be in control and lead, so that he could reciprocate and learn. Chaz's tongue in his mouth felt very strange but it wasn't a bad sensation, actually it felt rather pleasant to him and he didn't know why. Wren got up enough courage to gently push back with his own tongue and experiment with what he could do to Chaz, but then the palman pulled away a little to take a quick breath and giggled, amused. It was charming to see Wren so shyly unsure.

This wasn't the first time that the android had been laughed at that night. Wren was about to ask what was so funny but then he heard a dull clanking thump and realised that Chaz had pushed him up against the inn corridor's wall. The boy had practically climbed on top of him just as he had earlier in the day and Chaz braced one hand against the wall while the other held onto Wren's shoulder for support. He began a series of weak, fluttery feather-soft kisses that were remarkably sweet but nowhere near as satisfying as the deeper kisses had been, so eventually Wren caught Chaz off guard and pressed him into one whether the blond hunter liked it or not. Chaz moaned through the violation and immediate role-reversal but would have smiled had he the freedom to do so, for it meant that Wren was enjoying this just as much as he was.

A metal-plated hand was caressing the nape of Chaz's neck, but he hadn't really noticed it because his mind had been turned into something of a melted murky soup. It was unnaturally cold against his heat-flushed skin yet the caress was soothing and nice, so he didn't want it to stop. Eventually it did and Chaz wanted to pull away from Wren and protest it, he leant back to do just that, but then realised that the rest of Wren had stopped what he was doing as well. Steely storm-cloudy eyes looked at him seriously. A cold shiver ran down Chaz's spine. Wren wasn't having second thoughts, was he? Chaz felt like he would kill himself now if he did. "Wren?" He asked in a whisper. "What's wrong?"

Instead of answering Wren straightened up from where he had been leaning against the wall and set Chaz on his feet again, one arm still wrapped a little possessively about his waist. His wiped his damp mouth and a few glistening traces that Chaz had been there from his face and was totally silent, looking at the closed door on the other side of the corridor. It almost seemed like he was listening for something. No wait, he was. Chaz was starting to hear it too. Movement from the other side.

To prevent another awkward moment from occurring Wren improvised fast. He opened the door to Chaz's room quickly, thankful that it had still been left unlocked, and pushed the blond youth inside. He regretted his own strength, realizing that he had pushed Chaz way too hard and had sent him tumbling helplessly to the floor. There was no time to rectify that however, for as the very second that Wren slammed the door shut and spun around guiltily Rune's door opened and a very drunkenly tired esper poked his head out of the room.

Rune didn't look too well. He was somewhere in the harsh toxic wasteland whereupon the giddy drunkenness was leaving his body and the hangover was beginning to settle in. He usually preferred to spend his time in that state gratefully asleep, so he was understandably disgruntled to hear so much noise in the night. He wasn't wearing anything except for a pair of stripy blue pajama bottoms and his long hair was messy, covering both his shoulders. Rune glared. "What's with all this damned racket?" He muttered. "It's friggin' two thirty in the morning! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Wren had his hands hidden behind his back. He was actually very firmly holding the door closed by the knob and hoped fervently that Chaz would have the sense to stay still and quiet in his room. If he started to bang on the door and demand to be let out there was no way that Wren would be able to explain it away. Thankfully all seemed to be well. Wren's face went blank, which was the closest expression he could pull towards innocence at the time. There had been nothing innocent about what _he'd_ been doing. "Good evening, Rune. I am sorry if I woke you. It was not my intention to be so noisy." He apologized.

Looking up and down the corridor haggardly, Rune appeared to be a little suspicious of something. His head may have started to throb but his ears were still pretty sharp. He had heard voices in the hallway, along with some noticeable bangs and clatters. It hadn't really woken him up, but he had been so very close to dropping off to sleep. "What are you doing out there at this hour, and who were you talking to?" He pressed.

He had to think of an excuse fast. Usually that wouldn't have been much of a problem for him, all it took was a little processing from his logic and creativity centers, but Chaz had done a damn good job of mixing Wren up and freezing his programs in place. He stood there like a dazed idiot for far too long trying to think. When it looked like Rune was getting visibly impatient with him Wren just did the best he could under the circumstances. "I stayed out until late at the bar, then I walked here and discovered that I had left the inn key in my room. I was… talking to myself as I tried to unlock it by force."

There were some definite holes in Wren's story. For one thing he was standing outside Chaz's room and not his own. That was the most glaring inconsistency, but the other was that he had his key in his hand then and there. It was a pretty lousy lie now that he thought about it. From the other side of the door, just barely audible to Wren, he could hear Chaz trying to suppress sniggers. He was listening too. It all depended on whether Rune believed him or not, or how observant the esper was in such a state.

Rune sighed and let go of the doorframe that he had been leaning on. He had better things to do than listen to Wren holding conversations with himself late at night. "Yeah, okay." He yawned. "Just keep it down out there, alright?" From inside Rune's inn room came a sleepy complimentary echo of 'Yeah!' in a woman's voice. The magician grimaced, turned back inside then pressed one finger to his lips. Smiling a bit, he closed the door behind him.

Chaz's door creaked open a little as Wren let go of the doorknob. A sliver of the hunter's face appeared in the newly opened space. He had a silly grin on his face. When he realised that it was completely safe to come out again he opened the door entirely. "I think we just dodged a bullet." He observed carefully, taking care to speak quietly so that Rune would not be bothered again. Chaz laughed and took Wren by the arm, trying to lead him inside. "Of course now Rune is going to think that you're slightly deranged, talking to yourself at-"

The end of his sentence turned into a squeak as Wren took hold of his shoulder and shoved him purposefully onto the bed. Chaz's sword which had been leaning against the footrest was disturbed by the impact and fell to the ground. Luckily the floor was carpeted, so it didn't make much of a noise. Wren looked incredibly thoughtful as he stood there and regarded Chaz with unknown intentions. "That was the first time I have ever frozen like that before. It was because of you. You have done something to me, Chaz Ashley." He said in a low tone that was probably meant to only be quiet, but sounded beyond sexy to Chaz's ears. "Despite the fact that it made me look like a fool… I liked it anyway."

Chaz sat up a little as Wren walked over to him and took a seat on the edge of the bed. The piece of furniture creaked and groaned as it was forced to accept all of his great weight, but it held. Rune's interruption had cleared both their minds and now they couldn't act solely on impulse anymore. Damn Rune! Damn him! At least Wren hadn't completely changed his mind yet. That was a big plus. Chaz smiled and scooted over to him. "I can't believe you heard Rune through all of that. You must have good hearing, or pretty powerful concentration." He beamed.

Wren's answer was pretty blunt and straightforward, with no correlation to what Chaz had said. "Where do you intend to take this, Chaz?" He asked simply. "Where do you wish to go from here?"

He couldn't really answer properly, and the question made him blush profusely. He knew he had doubts about this, reservations that he had sweated over for hours on end, but his mind was so all over the place that he couldn't correctly pinpoint what they were. Maybe the dezorian drink had completely wiped out his inhibitions. In the midst of all this deep thought Chaz grinned like a goofball. "Well, I don't know that yet. I don't want to waste the night thinking about it, that's the sort of stuff you worry about during the day. But just tell me something Wren, did they ever teach you about palman anatomy in the place where they taught you stuff at?"

That was the most unintelligent sentence that Wren had heard all day. He looked at the boy, and Chaz was trying to inch even closer to him as time went by. They were in Chaz's room in the middle of the night, and suddenly Wren felt a little uneasy. "Yes, they taught us enough about the basics to get by." He answered leaving out the part that 'enough' meant the ability to identify various body parts splattered on the battlefield.

Nodding in satisfaction, Chaz was pleased. That was what he wanted to hear. At last, an answer that was right! "So you know enough about anatomy to know what _this_ is, and what to do with it?" He continued, pressing up against his friend.

"What?" The android asked in confusion. At first he thought Chaz was just trying to hug him, but he picked up on the all too evident difference fast. Oh. _Oh._ For the first time in his very long life Wren blushed out of sheer modest embarrassment. Chaz was only sixteen, but he was making him feel like a child. That strange feeling of inertia came down over his mind again in waves. "Yes… I do know." He murmured with hesitation.

Chaz was deriving some kind of strange pleasure from seeing Wren act so inexperienced. He had first thought that he was the least informed person about sex in all of the Algo solar system, but what he didn't know biological instinct had filled in for him. Wren didn't even have that, so once past a certain point he was completely in the dark. Chaz kissed him sympathetically on the cheek, but when he attempted to do it again Wren had already turned his head and met him with his lips instead. The kiss that resulted was nothing less than long and mind-blowing. Alright, so maybe he wasn't _completely_ in the dark, not anymore.

It surprised Chaz a little that Wren had silently agreed to continue, even if he didn't know what to do. Being brought into the world as a solely artificial creation meant that his experience was less than nil. This was a disadvantage, because every sentient biological creature played with themselves every so often, but nevertheless Chaz guided Wren's hand to his crotch and let his friend touch him through the fabric of his clothing. The android stopped kissing Chaz so that the hunter could speak if he wanted to, and he allowed him to crawl into his lap and rest his head against his shoulder plate.

It was a bit of a learning experience for the both of them. Chaz replied with soft answers like 'yes' or 'no' as Wren tested different ways to touch the youth, and at some point he managed to coax a couple of low moans from Chaz's throat and one 'ow that hurts, you bastard!'. He let his hands wander about and busied his mouth with kissing and tasting the soft lovely skin of Chaz's neck, along with his delicate jaw and the shell of his ear. After only a little bit of practice he managed to elicit more yes's than no's from Chaz, until that was the only thing that he was saying and the hunter found himself trying to push Wren away.

"You have to stop now or I'm gonna mess up my clothes…" Chaz breathed regretfully as he tried to wriggle away. He had only just stopped Wren in time. His neck stung slightly as his hands came up to fight with the zipper on his bodysuit. Had Wren bitten him while he had been trying to jerk Chaz off? Probably, it felt like it, but he couldn't really remember right now. Those kisses, they had totally clouded up the pain. Chaz chewed his lip as he started to struggle with his clothing. If Wren had gotten that good at kissing in so short a time he could only imagine what else he would be capable of, if properly taught.

One thing was for certain though, he wanted Wren to touch him without the barrier of his clothes in the way. The android leant over him and removed Chaz's red headband with one deft swipe of his hand. He had quit talking earlier because talk could never beat action. The youth also had a feeling that if Wren started talking again he would lose his focus and stop. Chaz growled a little. The zipper to his bodysuit was stuck. Thank god his clothing was a two-piece set. He started to work on his pants instead.

Wren watched Chaz battle to get his clothing off and noticed that the zipper wasn't really stuck so much as Chaz's hand and eye coordination was absolutely terrible. He wouldn't be able to hit a sand worm with a githu even if he tried, and for the first time that night Wren spared a thought as to wonder how much Chaz had drunk at the bar. He didn't really know because he had been busy getting acquainted with Roland and Valos at the time. Wren wished that he had paid more attention. "Chaz, how much did you drink tonight?" He asked innocently, brushing the hunter's hands away and pulling down the zipper himself.

Damn, there was no way that Chaz would be able to count that. Not because it had been a particularly large amount, but because he just couldn't remember at the moment. All he knew was that it had been less than Rune, but way more than he usually drank. Usually he didn't drink at all. Chaz lay there and started to let Wren undress him. "I dunno." He shrugged. "A lot."

The android wanted to sigh. He had been hoping that he wouldn't have to hear that. They had come so far already. Wren stopped what he was doing and pulled his hands away. Chaz glanced up at him in question but Wren got up off the bed and stood, looking through the cold frosted window on the other side of the room. The fireplace was burning heartily in here and it was nice and warm, but outside the land was temporarily uninhabitable. "This ends here." Wren announced seriously, folding his arms. "I cannot do this with you if you are drunk and beyond reason. It would be taking advantage of you and I will not do that, not again." His stern expression softened slightly. "I wish I did not have to take responsibility like this, but I do not want another rift between us to form."

Chaz didn't understand any of this. He heard Wren's words and assumed that he had changed his mind. Chaz felt cheated, and then angry. He rose from the bed only half dressed and didn't know whether to shout or cry or do both at the same time. Even so he caught Wren looking him up and down, but interpreted it wrongly as a look of disgust. "You can't stop now." He whined, aware of how childish he sounded. "C'mon, this isn't fair. You're being a tease, Wren."

Nobody had ever called him a tease before but Wren stood firm in his decision. He believed that Chaz, when the drunkenness wore off, would agree with him that this was the right choice to make. He stepped forward and ruffled Chaz's short blond hair gently, knowing the youth enjoyed that very much. "Listen," he said soothingly, "if you wish the same thing of me when you are sober then I shall do as you please. It is what I honestly want. Be patient and do what you think is right when your mind is yours again. I will be waiting for it." Wren leant over and kissed Chaz chastely on the forehead. "For now, I am going to my room."

And he did just that, leaving before he could change his mind. Dumbfounded, Chaz watched the door swing closed and heard the latch click, then he listened to Wren's heavy footsteps as he wandered down the corridor to his own room. Chaz felt like a tornado had picked him up, battered him around until he no longer knew which way was right anymore, and then had dropped him back in his room again, reeling and giddy and feeling like he was going to be sick. In less than an hour Wren had managed to change his life, _again_, and like the first time he had left the job unfinished, _again_. The frustration that he felt was unbearable.

With tears prickling behind his eyes Chaz gathered the clothes he had shed and hurled them at the door furiously, letting out an angry cry. He burrowed into his bed after that and cocooned himself within the insulated sheets and blankets, curling up into a fetal position. He knew he couldn't drop off to sleep until he took care of business first, so he wrapped a hand around his neglected cock and got it over with as quickly as possible, not caring if he got the sheets all messed up. It wasn't like he was the one who had to change them anyway. An hour later Chaz was asleep, and this time, strangely, he didn't dream.

Meanwhile Wren had settled down in a sturdy-looking chair in his room and relaxed. Regardless of the dirty look that Chaz had given him as he left Wren felt pretty good about himself. He had preserved Chaz's integrity and his own, overall he felt that he had done the right thing. Running a metal hand through his dark hair Wren leant back and remembered the first consensual kiss he had shared with another before. It had definitely been out of this world.

Allowing himself a tiny little private smile of his own, Wren closed his eyes and finally let inactivity take him away.


	8. Morning After

As far as mornings went it was a beautiful one on the ice planet of Dezoris. It wasn't as cold as usual, which made it hugely easier for those not used to the climate to get out of bed, glad that the unnaturally constant storm was focusing its abuse in another segment of the world. Rika rose only an hour after dawn and got ready quickly, bouncing through the reception area of the inn and offering a kindly wave to the innkeeper who was enjoying his first cup of morning coffee. Sleepily he reciprocated then got back to the crossword puzzle in the local paper. Rika opened the door and was greeted by falling snow, spiraling down from the sky. Nothing could wake a person up better than a touch of frost.

Rika had felt pretty lousy since the night before in the bar, but it was remarkable what a good night's rest had done for her heart and mind. She was willing to put the confusing stuff that Chaz had said to her away and not dwell on it again. Chaz had been drunk, so it probably hadn't meant much anyway. Come to think of it, Chaz, Rune and Kyra had all been a little tipsy that night. They certainly hadn't answered her when she knocked on all of their doors on the way out, those sluggards just wanted to sleep in.

But Rika liked the mornings best of all. There was something a little magical about it, even on a planet of frosted grounds and cloudy skies. It was a freshness in everything that did it, a readiness to be alive and live. The air was crisp and the day was young. There was so much to be done. Rika shivered as the cold breeze hit her but she ploughed on ahead anyway, heading to the outskirts of town. The inn was not very far from there so it was only a very short walk away. She wished that the path could have been a little bit longer or tougher, because she needed the extra exertion to warm up all her chilled and sleepy muscles.

She was heading towards the ice digger, parked carefully under some thick coniferous trees, not for camouflage but for the simple protection that it provided. The trees were heavy with snow but the large machine underneath them was only partially encrusted with the ice. The growth acted like a very big umbrella. Rika's knee-high boots made light footprints in the loose snowfall as she approached, noticing that the ice digger was already up and running, or at least trying to.

Another reason why Rika was up so early was because she knew that the ice digger took forever to acclimatize to the weather. The machine could take two hours to start on a good day and nearly four on a bad day. This was of no fault of the designer of the digger, it was just a simple fact that it took time to heat up the engines and clear all the ice away from the hull and the windscreen. If they wanted to leave town at a reasonable hour they had to have somebody out here at the crack of dawn, hard at work. Rika thought that she might as well clear her head and do it today, but it looked like somebody else had already beaten her to it.

Wren was the soldier who never slept. It always seemed like he was busy doing some task or another, constantly working hard. Rika almost pitied him sometimes for that, but respected him for the very same reason. It looked like the android was checking the engine as it hummed and revived itself in front of him, making sure there was nothing wrong. Mischievously, Rika dropped into her prowling stealth mode of movement and became completely silent, slinking towards him like a playful cat. The numan girl wanted to see just how close she could get to him before he noticed her. She was very good at this, yet before she got too close Rika noticed something for herself. Something strange.

"Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling. From glen to glen, and down the mountain side. The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying. 'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide…"

It was a tune, one that was just barely recognizable to Rika's memory. She had heard it recently but she just couldn't remember where. Anyway, this particular rendition of the tune was being sung quietly by Wren as he inspected the warming machinery. It seemed like he didn't even realize he was singing it, so absorbed he was in his task. Rika popped up beside him and was about to tap him on the shoulder plate when Wren turned around. His hand went for his plasma cannon but captured only air when he remembered that he had it left it inside the cockpit of the ice digger. "Rika! You mustn't sneak up on me!" He exclaimed, slightly startled.

"Good morning Wren." Rika announced with a smile, stepping away from him. Wren had some sort of power tool in his hand and had raised it a little as a second weapon resort. She guessed he wasn't used to being surprised like that. Once he realized that it was her and not some stealthy biomonster he visibly relaxed and lowered his weapon. Rika slipped around him and looked at the stuff inside the opened hatch of the digger. It was still pretty iced up but vibrating a bit, so Wren hadn't started his work very long ago, half an hour at the most. "You're up early." She added as she straightened up again.

Wren shrugged. "It is a palmane hour. There is no use wasting good hours of the daylight if they can be salvaged. It is a lovely day to be outside compared to the other days of late." That was pretty much true. It was only a mere snowfall, not a howling screaming storm from hell. Rika giggled when she noticed that Wren had snow in his hair and all over his armor, then she shook her head a little and realized that she was being powdered with the white stuff too. Wren smirked at her, and Rika noticed this especially because Wren rarely smiled at all. "Besides, I am in too good of a mood to stay cooped up indoors."

Folding her arms tightly about herself because it was chilly, Rika cocked her head at him curiously but Wren had already gone back to his mechanical work on the ice digger. Now that he mentioned it, he did seem a lot happier than he usually was. It was a big change from his informative yet apathetic attitude. Maybe the defeat of the three creatures had put him in much higher spirits, Rika didn't know. "May I inquire as to the reason for your mood?" She asked innocently, not afraid to pry. Rika had known Wren all her life and during the time that she had been doing her physical growing and learning Seed had encouraged her to ask Wren as many questions as she could. That was what he had been there for, after all.

Yet despite their familiarity with each other Wren would not give the reason away. He wasn't the kind of android who would kiss and tell. Chaz had been on his mind all morning, but rather than making it more difficult to do his job it seemed to give Wren the opportunity to work both efficiently and happily. It was just like the time he had lost his wits while speaking to Rune but in reverse, something of an emotional high. Without pausing or looking at Rika he gave her an answer that was technically the truth, but was an omission of the _real_ reason for his happiness. "I made some new friends last night at Gyuna's bar. I have had few friends in my lifetime so it made me quite happy. Could you pass me that wrench lying there in the snow, please?"

Rika looked around for a few seconds and found it half buried in a fresh drift of snow. It would have disappeared under the white if she hadn't discovered it sooner. It was freezing to the touch but Rika was wearing a pair of black gloves, so the metal did not stick to her skin. She passed it to Wren as the android held out his hand, using the tool to twist away a nut screwed tightly to a metal valve. As it was released thin jets of steam burst into the air. It was producing evaporated water but it still was not good enough to drive. The rush of hot air reminded Rika of how cold she really was. The numan wrapped her winter coat about herself a little bit tighter to block out the chill. "That bar. Is that where you learnt the song from? I knew it sounded familiar." She realized.

Wren hesitated slightly in what he was doing, then picked himself up again like a machine that had stalled briefly in its job. He felt self-conscious for a moment because he had been privately trying something new. Palmans often sung, as he had learnt at the bar last night, and Wren had wanted to see if he could do it too. The only song he knew completely by heart was the tune from Chaz's hometown; _Danny Boy_. He had sung it often enough for Wren not to forget the words and it reminded him a little bit of the young hunter. That was probably why he liked it. He told Rika the complete truth this time. "It is Chaz's song. I was merely borrowing it from him. I am sorry you had to listen to me."

"Oh, why's that?" The girl responded, a little perplexed. "You didn't sound too bad. The song sounded like it needed an accent though, if you got that down you would actually sound pretty good." Wren didn't answer her, he just continued what he was doing. Unperturbed, Rika spun around a bit in the snow, kicking up a drift. It was nice and loose and broke apart quite prettily. "I love to sing. I don't know if I'm any good at it or not because you can never judge yourself properly when you sing, but I still like it. It kind of makes you feel free."

The android was no expert on the subject himself so he didn't know how to reply to her. He guessed that Rika could have made a nice singer if she tried hard enough. The secret to any kind of success was effort. A thought popped into his mind. "I do not think Seed taught you that skill, and I am sure I did not teach you that skill either. Did you learn that skill all by yourself, Rika?" He turned to look at her and Rika nodded at him proudly. Wren wasn't sure how he felt about that. It wasn't a bad feeling that he experienced, it just made him feel a little strange. Had Wren been a parent he would have understood the feeling slightly better. "You are growing up so fast. Seed would have been proud of you." He said at last.

Having been raised as the fruit of a thousand years of genetic research Rika was used to being praised. This was different however, most likely because she was no longer a sheltered experiment but a near normal person, a girl. Being on the outside, outdoors, on their quest, it was gradually making her more of a complete person. It was not only Rika, too. Wren had also been taken out of his element and placed into a rag-tag motley crew. Instead of monitoring Algo he was finally being exposed to it, to the climates and its people. Together, all five of them had become warriors, sentries, navigators, explorers, cooks (except for Kyra, anything she touched tended to burn to a crisp), and friends. Rika wasn't the only one growing up, they all were.

Still, the numan beamed anyway. She wondered if Wren had noticed the change in himself as well. "I haven't had any breakfast yet. Are you okay out here by yourself while I round up the others and bring them back to life again? We'll be here in an hour or so, maybe two?" She knew how unpredictable an hour in town could be. Sleeping in an actual bed was a luxury nowadays and it sometimes took awhile to pry various members of their team out of them.

Wren waved his hand dismissively at her. Waiting was never a problem for him. "Take your time. I will not be bored here. There is much of the ice digger that could be improved upon, but remember that Meese is still a three hour drive away. If the others still require sleep then they can do it during the drive. Rika," Wren put down his tools and brushed snow off his armor, "please ask Chaz if he is feeling any better this morning. Tell him that I worry for him."

The girl remembered Chaz's visible depression last night. It must have been pretty bad if Wren had seen it too. Little did she knows that Wren was referring to something slightly more intimate and private, but he figured that Rika would just take the idea at face value. As cheerful as he was, Wren was still a bit anxious that Chaz might be furious with him. For stopping before anything drastic could happen, or for _not_ stopping after he had first kissed him. The hunter had been more than willing then, but now, in the morning, when he was sober…

Rika went off on her way, retracing her footprints back to the town. She waved to her friend still tinkering with the large ice breaking machine but didn't really expect a wave back. Instead she was treated to a clumsy second verse of Chaz's strange song, growing quieter as she wandered away. Wren was just picking up where he left off as if Rika had never been there in the first place.

He could work in the cold for as long as he wanted to, but Rika felt like she wanted to be inside again, by the fireplace. The warm coat that she was wearing over her regular clothes worked very well at blocking out the chill, but it was also quite itchy and uncomfortable. Briefly Rika missed Motavia and its stifling hot climate, then wished that there was another choice between those two extremes. When she got to the door of the inn she shook all the ice and snow out of her hair and clothes, then stepped inside, half expecting her friends to be in the reception area all ready and waiting to go. They weren't. In fact, when Rika went to their rooms and listened through the doors it turned out that they were all still asleep.

The greatest shock was banging on Rune's door and then opening it, only to have Kyra step outside instead of the reverent Lutz. Her hands were raised a little, as if Rika was intending to shoot her. She had a bit of a tired guilty grin on her face and her esper robes were all creased and crinkled, suggesting that she had slept in them last night. Rune was still sitting on the bed and stretching, trying to work all the kinks out of his back. "It's not what it looks like." Kyra assured her friend as Rika looked from her to Rune and then back again. "We both just kind of fell asleep next to each other. Nothing at all happened besides that."

"Yeah right," Rune added from across the room with a yawn, "it was freezing last night. Warmth in numbers." Kyra just rolled her eyes at him, looking to Rika as if she had regretted it, or wondering how the figurehead of the esper people could be so immature. She stepped out into the corridor with Rika and then went to her own room for a fresh change of clothing, muttering something unladylike under her breath. Wordlessly Rika gave Rune some privacy so he could get changed himself and moved onto Chaz's quarters.

Something stopped her from knocking on the door again like she had earlier in the morning. If Chaz was sleeping peacefully she didn't really want to disturb that bliss. He had been so strange lately that he needed every bit of peace that he could get. Without making a noise Rika grasped the doorknob and twisted it, hearing a calm click that meant it had been unlocked. She opened the door just wide enough for her to fit through and slipped inside, careful not to make the hinges of the door squeak. Rika could hear Chaz's deep breathing and knew that he was still asleep.

Other than that, the first thing that she noticed was that Chaz's clothes were all over the floor. His sword in its sheath was laid strewn across the carpeting as well. Chaz was not usually this messy, Alys seemed to have trained tidiness into him years ago. Rika thought of something and then blushed a little. Chaz didn't own a pair of pajamas and yet his clothes were discarded every which way. She wondered when they were at the safety of the inn if Chaz slept in the nude. Sitting on the very edge of the bed Rika gently leant over and tried to search through the blankets for the blond hunter's face.

He was difficult to find, all curled up and snug like a little baby. It was hard to believe that the owner of such a serene face could cut creatures of infinite darkness completely in two. Remembering to be businesslike, Rika patted Chaz gently on the cheek until the repeated motion eventually woke him up. Frowning sleepily he tried to pull the covers over his head again but Rika wouldn't let him. "Wake up, Chaz." She cooed softly. "It's a beautiful morning and its time to go."

Chaz groaned at that, but then his slow-functioning brain gave a short burst of activity and he realized that Rika was sitting on the edge of his bed. He sat up pretty quickly and two more things became apparent to his mind. One was that a huge headache struck him across the back of his neck and the base of his skull, followed by a feeling of wretched nausea. Hello hangover. Just great. The other was that he wasn't wearing much at all. Rika could see his bare chest quite clearly, marked in some places by distant complicated battles. Chaz grimaced and pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. "Ugh." He replied, trying not to look at the bright colours in the room. Rika's vibrant pink hair that Chaz usually loved to death was painful to look upon.

That lone grunt seemed like the only thing that she would be able to get out of him at the moment. Now that he was awake Chaz didn't look well, like Kyra and Rune, but worse. Rika didn't understand why people would choose to drink alcohol if they always felt so terrible the next day. Smiling, she took Chaz's hand and patted it comfortingly. Chaz looked down at it dumbly. "Take a little time to wake up then come and get ready. We're all gonna be having breakfast together soon. Chaz…" Rika stood up from the bed and regarded him seriously. She felt she had to say it now, while the evidence was all around them. "You should take better care of yourself. We all care about you."

He always appreciated advice, especially from Rika, but he wished it didn't have to be during a time when some invisible person with an iron bar was bashing him repeatedly in the head. Chaz managed to look up anyway, and to smile and nod. He liked knowing that Rika cared about him enough to be thinking of him sometimes. The gods only knew how often he thought about her. Through a dry throat Chaz was able to rasp out; "Thank you."

Satisfied, Rika turned to go back to the reception area. As she passed the threshold of Chaz's room she paused however, thinking, and Chaz wondered what she was going to do next. The numan faced him again slightly and snapped her fingers as she remembered what else she was going to say. "Oh yeah, that's right. Chaz, Wren wanted to know if you were feeling any better this morning. He was worried about you. You should talk to him after breakfast."

Rika pulled the door to but the lock didn't catch and click in place. Chaz could hear her calling out Kyra's name and then running down the corridor to meet with her other friend. The hunter was left sitting in his bed with a headache and a very tumultuous feeling in his chest. Her words made him remember something else. It hit him, and it hit him _hard_.

He and Wren in the middle of the night. It had been real, it wasn't just a dream. The kissing and the touching, and the fact that they had both loved it. Chaz remembered it all in one bright flash of revelation. He could literally _feel_ the blood draining from his face, and all he could do was silently remark upon how utterly weird it felt. He had been so close to pushing Wren into… well, he didn't know what exactly, but it had been important and he had _wanted_ it that way.

Chaz laid back down in his bed and stared vacantly at the ceiling. It was fuzzy and murky, but that was because his eyes were all red and sore. The only consolation that he had was that the hangover would creep away in a couple of hours. The memory overpowered him, he asked himself several times what the hell had he been thinking, but he already knew the answer to that question. He had simply done what he really wanted to do. What would Wren say to him the next time that they met? Amidst his drained complexion Chaz's colour rose a bit. He didn't know if he could talk to him again after everything that had happened, he'd be too embarrassed to get a word out at all.

But one thing was for certain as Chaz forced himself out of his warm bed and into the cold air of the room, gathering all the clothes up that he had left on the floor. He didn't regret it. He didn't regret it at all.

When he emerged from his room after packing and tidying himself up a bit the four of them got together and ate a hot breakfast. The only things that were on the menu was warm porridge and white snow tea, made from some kind of flower that grew up in the frosty mountains. Chaz, Rune and Kyra didn't look like they were very hungry, but Rika pestered them until they gave in. Considering that they had been living on dried meat and preserves since their stay at the Esper Mansion though, it was a wonderful meal. They would certainly appreciate the warmth from the food once they got outside.

Rika talked avidly about meeting Raja again. It had been a little while since they had last seen him and she hoped that he was doing well, despite the circumstances. Chaz didn't have the heart to suggest that Raja might already be dead, a victim of the black energy wave. He was old, which meant he wouldn't last very long. It was interesting to note that Rika didn't even seem to realize that Raja's death might be a very real possibility. Chaz made eye contact with Rune from across the table and saw that the esper was pretty much thinking exactly the same thing. Well, he hoped that everything would be fine.

Talking about Raja and Meese got Kyra into remembering her friends as well and she temporarily broke out of her headache to talk about it happily to them all. Chaz and Rune thought that the inane chatter would never end, until they all found themselves packed up and prepared to leave. They were running slightly late by Rika's count but that was okay, Wren had said for them to take their time. She hoped the other three had learnt their lessons last night, that overindulgence never paid out in the end.

The rumble of the ice digger was softer and much smoother than it had been earlier in the morning. Whatever Wren had done to it seemed to have made things run better. He was standing around the belt treads when the other four met up with him, sort of staring at nothing at all. He greeted them fondly but a little distantly, like his mind was somewhere else. He knew that if the storm was so light out here it meant that it must be doubly worse in another area of Dezoris, and he hoped that that area wasn't one he would be forced to drive through. The hull of the machine was strong and it would protect them but the engine beneath it was very delicate.

They boarded the ride one by one and Wren waited around to be last, so that he could secure the outer lock behind them. He picked up the monstrously heavy tool kit that he had left sitting on one of the treads and unintentionally caught Chaz's gaze as the boy was ascending up the ramp. He tried to predict what Chaz would do if he was still angry with him. Wren was expressionless, waiting, but somehow impatient. Much of their friendship hinged on how Chaz was going to act. That was one of the reasons why Wren had hung around outside for so long, trying to postpone the confrontation, but it could wait no longer.

The cold air was actually making Chaz feel more refreshed. Things seemed a bit better in the light snowfall, especially with Wren looking at him so blankly, but Chaz knew how he was really feeling on the inside. He didn't want Wren to feel bad about himself, in the end he had done the right thing and that was what mattered. If anything it was Chaz who should have been sorry. The corner of the hunter's mouth turned up in the beginnings of a tiny smile, but he disappeared into the ice digger before it could become anything more than that. Wren was not going to laugh at him, or judge him either. He had told himself that on the fateful night in the machine center. It was still true.

Wren had indeed noticed Chaz's little smile. It looked like he had been given a temporary reprieve. That was a big relief. With the tool kit in hand Wren hopped up the ramp and locked the digger shut from the elements on the inside. The big ice breaking car was made more for survival than luxury, so it was not as comfortable as the Landale to move around in, but for what it was worth it wasn't that bad.

The cockpit was spacious and doubled as a conference room with two long couches behind the driver's seat, and there was enough room for a small crowd of people to wander about and argue in. Behind that was a thin corridor which led to a series of tiny storage rooms and individual bunkers. Apparently Demi had designed the digger on Zelan from her point of control at Nurvus, under a direct command from Wren. You could sort of tell that the digger had been a special creation by the little service android in the way that it was built, accommodating but just not quite comfortable. Demi had had to guess what her friends would have liked. She had tried hard.

Their driver was grateful Demi had remembered that her master was twice as tall as she was. Because of that Wren was able to fit into the pilot's chair. He would be doing most of the driving that day, although Rika had shown an interest in wanting to try on the way back. That was Rika, always willing to learn. The bridge seemed to be empty except for Wren. The rest of his group must have retreated to their bunkers. Well, that was alright. Wren was in too good of a mood to be put off by the silence. He didn't know why Chaz wasn't mad at him but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Another one of Raja's sayings.

The ice digger was already running strongly so Wren put his foot on the ignition and they were off, through the snowfields and towards the first wall of ice. Drilling through tough material like that was a difficult task but he thought they would be okay. The vehicle lurched as it moved but beyond a few starting jitters it was a pretty smooth ride. Not many biomonsters were out during the storm; they appeared to have more sense than that. It was half an hour of boring nothing before they got to the inert glacier, and then Wren got to do a little boring of his own.

Breaking through the wall of ice meant that they had to slow down to a bit of a crawl. If Wren went too slowly it meant they would make no headway on their trip, but if he went too fast he risked crushing the front of the digger violently against the barrier like an aluminum can. The trick was to reach a balance between driving conservatively and aggressively.

Wren heard somebody from the bunker shouting; "I won! I won!", so he figured that they were all playing a game together, but then he heard somebody else from another area yell back; "Shut up! I'm trying to sleep!". He remembered playing games with the others. It hadn't gone too well, even when he had started to throw games on purpose just to even things out again.

There were just some things that androids couldn't do properly. Playing fairly was one of them. Wren sensed somebody entering the bridge but couldn't get up to greet them because he was far too preoccupied. From the way that they walked, the heavy clomp that suggested his visitor was a male, Wren calculated who it must be. Rune had been the one to shout out that he was trying to sleep, so the only choice left was Chaz. Chaz Ashley. His would-be lover? Wren didn't say anything, focussing on his driving. If Chaz wanted something then he had to ask first.

Chaz thought that he was being foolish coming here, but he was beginning to understand now about the damage that words could do when they were left unspoken. It was like a deep pressure in his chest and gut, emotions that would come out in another violent outburst if he didn't release them now. He had excused himself from the game of riddles that he had been playing with Rika and Kyra, so they would still be busy and preoccupied with other things. He had to talk to Wren privately now while they still had the chance. For the first time in a while Chaz subconsciously brushed his fingertips across his anxious lips. "Hey, are you busy? Can we talk for a few minutes?"

He could easily drive and talk at the same time, provided they didn't get pushed into some kind of combat situation Wren was free to participate in conversation. It would ease the monotony, and he still wanted Chaz to know that he was still available to offer him some advice. "I always have time for you, Chaz. Come here and we shall talk. Do you feel any better this morning? How is your head?"

Walking towards the pilot's chair where Wren was sitting, Chaz leant against it and tried to look at anything else except for his friend. He settled for the harsh snowfall and whiteness of the windscreen, a blurry angry smear. "It throbs a little but that will go away soon enough. I feel alright." That wasn't preoccupying him at the moment though, he wanted to get through the idle chit chat and just be blunt. "Listen, Wren," Chaz murmured with uncertainty, "I want to know. The stuff that happened last night, was it really real, or was it just some screwed up wet dream that I had?"

It was strange how palmans seemed to be unable to accept reality at times. If Chaz couldn't handle it, then he was willing to accept it as a dream. Reality didn't work that way, sadly. Wren smiled at its inexplicable strangeness. "By my recollection, it was quite real. It _did_ happen. Would you prefer it if it was only a dream?" Chaz laughed softly at that and ran a hand through his short hair. That wasn't it at all. Wren's eyes flicked away from the windscreen for a second or two and looked at Chaz instead. For once the boy seemed to be calm. "Would you prefer it if it had never happened at all?" He added in a softer tone, morbidly curious.

Chaz managed to surprise him, even if Wren did not show it. "No." He said solemnly, as if he were speaking at a funeral. "I'm not going to keep on realizing and then denying things. I've learnt that denial only makes me feel even worse. I was just worried about what I was going to say to you the next time we talked. Before all of this we weren't exactly the closest of friends. But now I find myself drawn to you, just as I was drawn towards Rika. I like you Wren, and I know you like me too. I just wish I knew where we should go from here." Chaz sighed as he finished talking. Saying all that stuff, it had definitely felt right.

It was nice to know that Chaz wasn't going to delude himself anymore. That would make things a little easier to cope with. The hunter was still acting slightly selfish, focussing only on his own feelings, but Wren was already used to that kind of behavior. It didn't bother him much. Taking a few moments of silence to think about what he should say, the android decided to speak his mind before he thought better of it. "I do not know if you remember all that transpired last night, but the offer that I made to you still stands." He waited for an answer but Chaz didn't say anything. Wren assumed that he had forgotten. "The offer being that if you wished to take this further when you are of sound mind, I would allow it."

The memory was a little bit blurry but Chaz did remember those words. He blushed and inspected his boots. Wren was basically agreeing to be his lover if Chaz wanted it that way. What could one honestly say to that? He didn't really know if that was what he ultimately wanted either. He and Wren were just too different, biological and artificial, both males, a living being and only an imitation of a living being. How could he know if Wren was really truly alive at all? It would be so much easier if Wren rejected him, then it wouldn't be Chaz's fault. But infuriatingly, Chaz didn't want that at all. Best to rely on what he _knew_ was true and just forget all the rest.

"I remember what you said," Chaz announced, trying to keep it together, "don't think that I've forgotten it. I'm sober now, I can think straight, so what I'm about to say I say of sound mind, alright?" Wren nodded slightly, continuing to watch the road. They were nearly free of the wall of ice. "I think that although the stuff that happened last night was great, we were going much too fast for the both of us to cope with. I wanted to thank you Wren, for doing the honorable thing and stopping in time. I don't know where we'd be if we continued with that. I don't think I'd have been able to speak with you ever again. If you're patient and let me get used to all these feelings and stuff, like liking a male robot, there might be something for us yet."

He wasn't running away, but he wasn't ready to move forward yet either. Wren didn't know whether he could have hoped for more than that, starting a relationship was one of the last things that he ever thought he'd do, but it was a start. He wanted Chaz to be happy most of all. That meant mentioning one other important loose end that needed to be tied up. "What of Rika?" He ventured quietly, not sure of Chaz had thought about her in their problems.

Chaz had actually given a great deal of thought to the girl of his dreams, more so than he had with anything else, actually. Going ahead with Wren would have been much easier if he didn't have Rika to think about as well, but it was because of her that this whole situation had started in the first place. Chaz guessed that he owed her, but it was kind of funny to realize that it would be a gratitude that she would never know of. "I haven't given up on her yet. I still love Rika. If there's a chance that something could happen between her and I, then I would take it. Would you risk a relationship with somebody who would leave you so easily, Wren?"

"If you are trying to scare me out of this decision it is not going to work. Perhaps you want me to change my mind so that there would be no guilt on your conscience. I am sorry, but I will not change my mind. I do know that you love Rika quite deeply and I will not begrudge you that, but if there is any chance that I could take her place… I would take it." Wren pulled something of a strange face, one that Chaz would later identify as a look of incredulity. "By the Creator, I never thought I would be able to say that out loud."

The young hunter smiled widely. Most of the time he had thought that Wren had the personality of a thumbtack, but he was beginning to see there were times when that was not true. He _did_ have a personality, it just wasn't ready to manifest yet. Suddenly Chaz wanted to see it all, more than anything else. He hoped he would get the chance to do just that.

Endeared by that brief look of bewilderment, Chaz glanced around for a second to make sure that nobody else was watching them and then leant down, leaning towards his friend. He delicately snaked a hand underneath Wren's jaw and lightly gripped the other side of his face with his fingertips, drawing Wren towards him and placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "Thanks for understanding." He said.

Wren pushed Chaz away gently as he straightened up again. It was good to see him so happy, and nobody had been hurt. It was more than Wren ever could have asked for. "Do you want me to crash the ice digger?" He asked with a mischievous, playful undertone. "Because I am sure that I will freeze up if you ever try that again."

Chaz blinked at him, then pulled away and laughed. "Wow, you really _do_ have a sense of humor! I'm gonna tell everybody! Especially Raja!" He ran out of the room grinning, heading back to the game that he had left running. Rika was probably beating Kyra into the ground by now, point-wise.

They were back in the open snowfields and the storm was progressively getting worse. Wren kicked up the gear a notch and pushed the digger forward at a quicker speed, wondering if he could try to outrun the storm. In the mood he was in Wren felt like he could do just about _anything_.

Maybe this long boring drive wouldn't be so boring after all.


	9. Blizzard, Mistakes, Falling

(A/N: Well, I apologize for not updating any of my stories recently. For the past three months I have been on vacation in a couple of different countries, so my main concern has been with relaxing and having fun. I kept scribbling little bits and pieces of this chapter while I had some free time, and so here it is! A cliffhanger! People are gonna either love or hate this. Salutations from my American/Canadian adventure!)

Chaz and his company came to a fresh new dilemma about halfway between the townships of Zosa and Reshel. The weather had worsened considerably as the ice digger made good time, pelting it with sleet, snow and fragments of ice. The closer they got to the Garuberk tower the worse the storm became. The five travelers knew now that Raja had been more than just certain about the cause, he had been right. It was now one or two hours before noon and the visibility outside the digger was not perfect, but Wren had still been able to see the roadblock before the vehicle had a chance to directly collide with it. He had to break pretty sharply, though.

The belt treads locked as Wren put his foot on the brakes and the machine lurched forward, like a man with vertigo before coming to a complete halt. In the occupied bunkers Rune was rudely awakened, a case of concentrated trimate falling off the top of a shelf and striking him between the shoulder blades as he lay snoozing and prone in his hammock. He squawked and was immediately jolted awake, prepared to send whoever it was that had awoken him to a fate worse than death. In another bunker Rika cried out in frustration as her surprisingly large house of cards collapsed to the ground. Chaz and Kyra had been watching her work on it with interest. The gods only knew how she had managed to build it up so far on a moving vehicle.

The voice of their driver popped up through the ice digger's loudspeaker system. It wasn't really necessary for him to do that, the machine was small enough for Wren to shout and they easily could have heard him, but it seemed like Wren just wasn't the shouting type. He apologized for their sudden halt and asked for their presence in the conference room. The four adventurers knew that it was far too early for them to have reached Meese yet. Whatever the problem was it was something that Wren didn't want to handle on his own. That meant it could be very, _very_ bad.

"So... what do you think it is?"

Rika still had the cards that she was shuffling within her hands and Rune continued to look half asleep. It wasn't as bad as they had first thought it would be, thank goodness for that. It was actually kind of funny. Chaz and Kyra were smiling at the look of utter perplexity written on Wren's face. They were traveling through very dangerous territory now, formless terrain riddled with snow worm colonies, and the path dictated by the digger's global positioning system was the only road they could take safely. Deviating in the slightest meant they could drive into a whole nest of the creatures.

"I do not know. That is why I called you to the bridge. Should I blast it out of the way?"

There was an obstacle in the middle of their path. "No, it looks like a big bird's nest." Kyra observed. It was several feet across and several feet wide, looking like it had been built from pine needles and the twigs from other coniferous trees. Wren wanted it moved out of the way so they could continue to travel peacefully, but nobody really supported the idea of blowing it to smithereens. Rika was dead set against the idea - she had a feeling that it belonged to a family of Dezoris penguins. When Wren leant across the dashboard to reach the side-mounted laser cannons she grabbed his arm and restrained him.

Rune looked serious and possibly more awake than earlier. He wasn't an expert in Dezorian wildlife but he felt he would be able to tell a Dezo penguin nest from the cradle of some incredibly fearsome monster. There were many ways to tell that sort of thing, but unfortunately the roadblock looked blurry and indistinct in the storm. There was no way he was going outside just for a closer look. The esper stopped squinting. "It doesn't matter what it is, we just have to get it out of our way." He said thickly, feeling his back ache just a tad. That trimate case had sharp corners.

"Without blowing it up?" Chaz added helpfully from where he was standing. He was in a good mood right now and wanted to contribute to the conversation in any way he could. He had an idea, although it probably wouldn't be regarded any better than Wren's idea. The hunter had the slightest inkling that he should stick up for his friend, but he liked his own idea better. "Maybe we should go out there and move it by hand. It's cold outside, but at least we won't have to run it over or anything."

The numan girl brightened instantly, warming up to Chaz's way of thinking. "That's a great idea! I'm sure the penguins won't mind very much if we move their home a couple yards to the left or right. Especially if it means Wren doesn't have to wipe them out." She looked at him slyly and the machine seemed a little put off at being picked on. Beside Rika Chaz grinned at being congratulated, but then the girl asked the question that nobody was willing to answer. "Who's going to go outside?"

There was a prominent lack of response. Chaz, Rune and Kyra all glanced at one another, plumbing each other's expressions to see who would give in first. All were plotting reasons why one of the others were so much more suited to the task. Kyra and Rune were natives to this planet; they could handle the low temperatures better. Chaz was their leader, he needed to take control of the situation. If Rika wanted to save those damn penguins so much, then she should move it herself. The room became full of suggestions on what should be done. The espers considered themselves too important for grunt work and the visitors from Motavia didn't think they could last for very long in the storm. They were only a couple of hairs away from a fully-fledged argument.

Meanwhile they were getting nowhere. Rika suddenly had an idea for a compromise. Nobody would like it but at least it might stop the quarreling. "Well, what if we _all_ all go outside at once? We can leave the digger idling so we won't have to start it up a second time. It shouldn't take long to move one little nest out of the way." They all knew that Rika probably had the best idea. The problem was who was going to stay in the warm ice digger, not who was going to go out there in the frigid cold. They could all endure it.

"That is not necessary, Rika," Wren announced from where he was sitting, "I shall go and remove the obstacle while the rest of you remain here. The temperature and weather does not bother me and it is not safe to send our entire party into a dangerous environment."

"Don't be silly, it's even more dangerous to send a single person into a storm alone, whether they be palman, esper _or_ machine." Rika pressed obstinately. Arguing with her was like trying to nail a zol slug to the wall; you succeed only momentarily before the problem divides and multiplies. "If you're going to go out there by yourself, then I'm coming with you." She finished, then ran back to her small bunker to grab her furry winter coat. At least she was realistic enough to dress up warmly. Wren had not responded to her, because denying her what she wanted only made her conviction stronger.

Chaz suffered a change of heart. He could not allow Rika or Wren to go off into the cold storm without him. He wanted to be close to Rika, to protect her, even more so since his failure to rescue her in the Air Castle. He felt he had to redeem himself in that respect. Wren was a good guardian but Chaz wanted to watch over her himself. Speaking of Wren, Chaz also wished to follow him as well, to see just what kind of shape their relationship had formed. It was only a little task, anyway. "I'll come too, just in case." He said, smiling.

But the chain of volunteers was broken at that point. The two espers didn't really see any reason to get their hands dirty. Those three would be enough to do the job, and now they didn't have to leave the safety of the digger. Rune smirked in his usual cool manner as Rika returned, pulling her arms and her retracted battle claws through the sleeves of her coat. "Sounds like you have all the help you'll need. Kyra and I will guard the digger. Don't take too long or we'll never get to Meese on time."

That was just like Rune, to duck out of work because it was beneath his station. Chaz rolled his eyes at him briefly and then opened the near-invisible doorway etched into the digger's grey hull. There was a small pressurized airlock in case the ice digger was being used upon an uninhabitable planet. The second door opened and then came a blast of incredibly cold air, a smattering of icy flakes scattering upon the floor. The exit was a cleanly cut rectangle of blinding white, the path to the storm. Chaz wasn't even outside yet and he was beginning to shiver. Well, better get it over and done with.

The three adventurers descended down the ramp into Dezoris' snowstorm. There was an audible hydraulic hiss behind them as soon as they all stood within the snowdrifts. Rune and Kyra had wasted no time in retracting the ramp and closing the door again. They didn't want the draft to take their artificial heat away. Rika was standing beside Chaz, her arms folded very tightly across her front. The hunter wondered if she was having second thoughts yet. The wind was tugging and pulling at her coat roughly, exposing her body underneath. Her battle gear may have helped to increase her mobility in combat, but it was not good winter clothing. Poor Rika.

Chaz's full bodysuit managed to insulate him slightly, but it was desert gear, not for the arctic. He was no better off. Being outside in the whipping snowflakes was like being stung by minute needles. Chaz squinted a little to keep the wind from stinging his eyes. No wonder Dezorians were so naturally slit-eyed! Wren started to move forward and the other two gratefully followed him. Chaz and Rika walked closely behind him, using the large android as a windbreaker and as a shield. The jagged wind subsided, but the cold still remained. The obstacle in their path wasn't far.

They were keeping as close as they could to the side of the ice digger, keeping it as a reference. It was funny, the vehicle seemed an awful lot bigger on the outside when compared to the inside. It was maybe just a matter of perspective, but those belt treads stood even taller than Chaz's head. Rune would have said that that was an easy feat to accomplish, but, yes, it was the blank backdrop of the snowstorm that made the digger seem bigger, because of the lack of comparison. Chaz hoped they wouldn't catch snow blindness from it. "This storm is so thick I can't see a thing!" Rika shouted, almost voicing Chaz's exact thoughts.

"Stay close to me and you will not get lost." Wren replied from the front of the line. The other two knew that it was sound advice. They passed the protruding frontal drills that were attached to the ice digger, built from a hefty material able to crush blocks of ice and slow-moving glaciers to powder. The drills were built for that purpose only, but Chaz could imagine the incredible destructive power it could hold when turned against the bodies of other living beings.

The feeling of cold was beginning to fade away. He reckoned that his body was beginning to acclimatise and adjust, and none too early. Chaz couldn't see where they were headed because of the windbreak, but the faint jumbled outline of the bird's nest appeared several yards away, dark yet encrusted with snow. It looked even more bizarre outside of the ice digger but fortunately it wouldn't be as heavy. Chaz fought the winds to one side of the nest and tried to get a good grip on the edge, many little twigs and things scratching at his unprotected fingers. He broke off a few that were irritating him and made a pair of hand-holds in its side. Wren and Rika were doing the same thing on their part of the obstruction.

They lifted, and it was heavier than it first seemed to be, heavier than mere twigs, but Chaz had put on a bit of muscle in the previous few months and the extra weight did not bother him much. The three of them heaved the nest out of the path of the ice digger, leaving deep footprints in the snow. At one point Chaz's boot crunched through a hidden crust of ice beneath the snowdrifts, causing him to sink almost a foot beneath the surface layer. He managed to yank his leg out again with a little strain and a curse.

"Hey, can you guys feel that?" Rika shouted nervously as she scuffled backwards with part of the nest in her arms. She looked to Chaz. Something didn't feel quite right and she wanted to know if the others felt the same. The sense that warned her of danger was tickling her awareness, somewhere in the primitive part of her mind. Odd white shapes were clumped together in the bowl of the nest, weighing it down. Were they dezo penguin eggs maybe?

Wren had to leave the intuition part to his two friends. Everything that he felt was always based on cold hard data. Well, _almost_ everything, that was. He watched Chaz and Rika exchange a glance between themselves but they both looked slightly confused. Whatever it was that they were sensing they did not understand it either. Wren set down his part of the obstruction on the ground and then rose to his full height. "It may be the vibrations of the snow worms that you detect. This area is riddled with their presence."

No, it wasn't that. In truth, it felt like Chaz also was expecting something bad to happen. He wondered why he was suddenly thinking so pessimistically. In any case their job was done. The nest was moved a safe distance to the side and the ice digger could pass through freely. As if to accentuate this either Rune or Kyra flashed the ice digger's lights three times, telling them that they could get out of that crazy storm now. Chaz stumbled over and took Rika by the arm. "C'mon, let's go." He said.

"Wait." Rika answered clearly between two gusts of rending wind. It didn't matter that Chaz was probably about to catch frostbite or that Wren was already walking back to the big machine with one arm held up to keep the snow from blinding his eyes, something had snagged her attention and it didn't want to let go. She knelt beside the large nest and leaned over it, sticking her arms inside. Rika knew it was wrong to disturb a creature's home, but they had done that already, so what more harm could she do? Besides, one of those eggs looked strangely out of shape. She hoped they hadn't broken it somehow.

Chaz watched her lift a white oval shape out of the nest with the greatest of care. An idea came and he shook his head negatively. There was no room in their party for giant penguin hatchlings. "Rika, no. Put it back. That's not yours." The numan girl looked at him reproachfully for a few seconds and Chaz softened a little, as much as the low temperatures would allow. "It would be happier if it stayed here in its natural habitat."

She hadn't been thinking of keeping it at all, Rika had only been concerned that the egg had been damaged somehow. It was nearly completely caked with snow, and as she turned it about in her delicate yet strong hands parts of the icy covering began to fall from it, piece by piece. The numan's eyes widened almost comically, yet there was nothing comical within them. Rika's mouth opened up in a small silent gape of horror.

With the snowy covering removed several seams, cracks and hollows became apparent to the two adventurers still standing and kneeling beside the nest. Twin dark holes were poked in the front with the left eye socket broken and fractured, while below that the triangular depression of the nose was still tightly packed with snow. The brain case was bone white and pristine, save for a violent and precise puncture in the back. There was a quiet little thump as the hingeless jawbone broke free of the snow and tumbled into the nest with a soft rustling sound. Even without its jaw it still seemed to grin triumphantly at them; at Rika in particular.

It was a skull. A palman's skull.

Rika didn't scream, but she made sort of a surprised squeaking sound and dropped the skull straight back into the nest, jerking back reflexively. It landed face-up and continued to smile chinlessly at her, as if it found the expression on her face amusing. Chaz felt weak in the knees and experienced a sick sinking sensation as he recognized what the other white lumps were. Bones. More skulls. Some creature's trophy collection. The hunter pulled Rika to her feet and proceeded to drag her away from the nest, his face ashen grey. If they hung around here that creature might come back, but maybe they could escape in time.

Cries from the west robbed Chaz of his hope. It sounded like a flock of harpies, screeching from far away. They reacted to that sound within moments, Chaz drawing his sword while Rika extended her claws. "Darn it." The blond youth cursed as he turned to face the noise, placing his back against the gently rising slope. The cries were coming overhead from the direction of the ice digger, which meant if they were pressed back it would be away from their only means of safety. How could they have been so stupid?

"Sorry." Rika apologized beside her friend, her hands still trembling just the slightest bit from when she had held the skull. She knew that she had led Chaz straight into a palman's graveyard. Small dark shapes rippled into view amidst the snowstorm, four of them, but Rika still did not regret her decision to try and save some helpless creatures, even if they had turned out to be monsters. She willed her hands to be motionless, and her body and mind to calm. They did so flawlessly and her confidence came back, as strong as it ever was.

"It's okay, you didn't know. Wren!" Chaz answered her forgivingly and then called out to their friend who was currently too far away to be of use. He didn't know if he could shout loud enough in this blustering storm, but Wren seemed to pause and look at him questioningly, detecting the sound of Chaz's voice but not his words. His hair was almost completely white with snow. Rika waved at him hurriedly and Chaz attempted to shout even louder. "Battle! Get over here right now!"

He was able to make out the word 'battle' and that motivated him immensely, the android ceasing the slow walk towards his friends and breaking out into the best sprint that he could manage whilst in the loosely-packed snow. Wren calculated that he did not have enough time to head back to the ice digger and retrieve his plasma rifle, but he was certain that his level of battle effectiveness would not be hampered by his lack of a weapon. He _was_ a weapon, after all. Wren could only hope that he'd be able to make it in time, and already he was charging his flare beam, just in case.

When the conflict struck Wren was still ten seconds away. The dark shapes burst upon the small party and while Rika was able to completely evade in time, Chaz could only swing his free arm up to shield his face and hear the gritty clangs as long hooked talons scraped away at his hand guard. A burst of super cold air struck him full in the face when the monster beat its wings directly above him, but Chaz had gotten a good look at his foe in the one second that he had been given before he closed his eyes entirely to the wind. It was a dezo owl, the fearless hunter of the frosty skies.

This was bad. Dezo owls were dangerous creatures and Chaz's party had only been completely confident in engaging them while they were inside the ice digger. They had an advantage in mobility and speed, while their hardened talons and beaks could crack both metal and bone. Worse still, this was not one owl but four of them, so they were outnumbered too. Chaz lifted his sword arm and swiped blindly with his blade, hoping to strike some flesh or at least beat the bird back a little, but he sensed no resistance to his sword at all. Likewise the clawing at his guard arm had ceased.

Rika shouted a battle cry and plucked one of the birds out of the air, forcing herself to land harshly on her stomach so that the owl would feel the full impact as her cushion. It squawked in pain and surprise then nipped at Rika's upper arm, gouging out a small yet notably deep wound. The snow beneath the numan girl became slightly spotted with red. Meanwhile Chaz's foe had angled away from him sharply and then had dive-bombed him from the side, pushing the youth away from his comrade. Chaz turned towards the new direction of the attack and stumbled over the birds nest that was in his path, the thing that the dezo owls were trying to protect.

Tripping over that thing had probably saved Chaz's life. As he ducked forward a little, wobbling and trying to regain his balance, he felt the tips of the dezo owl's talons part his hair. It had dived at him but missed, and though Chaz should have immediately taken advantage of this situation he got a faceful of the bottom of the bird's nest. He was tipped upside-down with his legs sticking up, then he slid forward and got into a crouch, trying not to slip on the jumbled piles of bones. When the owl doubled back again he let it have it with a concentrated githu technique.

Wren leaped into the battle without announcing himself and released his flare laser at the dezo owl that was bothering Chaz. The githu and the flare struck the monster from two different directions and did what two opposing energy forces were wont to do; cancel each other out. This resulted with the dezo owl screaming one final scream before it disintegrated into a mishmash of invisible particles and gore. Feathers were scattered every which way by the breath of the storm.

"Chaz, are you damaged?" Wren called and took a step forward, but had not noticed that he had sunk up to his ankles in another crust of ice. It held under the force of his momentum and knocked the android off his balance, so Wren tipped over and went crashing into the snow. This would have been funny had they not been in combat, yet Chaz and Rika did not have the time to laugh. There were still three of the four enemies left to dispose of.

One of them was still squirming and flailing in Rika's grasp. She was trying her hand at wrestling and believed that she had at least broken one of the creature's wings, so it couldn't get away from her. The girl was trying to get both of her hands around its throat so that she could cleanly break its neck. The talons were in the way, and if her hands came within five inches of the owl's face it would stretch its long neck out and then snap with its cruelly hooked beak. Rika wanted to kill it in a simple and clean manner, with no unnecessary pain for the bird, but instead she had to rise to her feet and then regretfully crush its chest with the thick sole of her boot. The dry rustling snap of its ribs made her feel sick to her very stomach.

The ice crust shattered as Wren kicked at it with his trapped leg and then lifted his head from the snowdrift. "Chaz?" He repeated and for a moment was blinded by a comparatively rough blast of wind, then his surroundings came back into focus. Chaz was standing beside the large bird's nest, wiping off streaks of the dead owl's splatter from his face. He looked unharmed. Wren stood too and sought harder, firmer ground.

Chaz heard his name being called and saw Wren edging towards the higher ground, not quite mindful of the enemies in the area. He was walking on solid, tough ice, but that was all it was. Ice. Rika turned to look at Chaz and he saw the clear traces of guilty tears in her eyes, but she didn't look angry. She looked sad, and wild. Chaz regarded her with wide eyes and felt like he wouldn't be able to tear his gaze away.

But he did so anyway when he heard the screams of the remaining dezo owls crying out in unison, followed by the artificial whir of Wren's shoulder mortar plates opening. That could only mean one thing, that Wren was planning on using his burst rockets unit in the middle of a blizzard. What kind of chaos would that cause? The android must have figured that his fire-based assault would be similar to the napalm charges of the ice digger. It'd be effective, but dangerous. He was hunched over, the mortar cannons protruding from each shoulder.

Fire spat into the air and was immediately lost to the naked eye, except that one of the charges grazed the outstretched wing of a dezo owl and the monster burst into flames. It turned into a writhing fireball that fell out of the air, smelling ever so slightly of roasted chicken. Wren looked up slowly to see where his attack had gone and was struck in the face by the burning bird, surprising him if not hurting him. The final monster flew free as the rest of the napalm rained down around the android, striking against and hissing into the ice. Some of the fire was extinguished by the snow but a great deal of it weakened the ice beneath Wren's feet, rendering it treacherous and unsafe.

While brushing away embers Wren was unaware of Chaz running towards their last foe, his sword lightening and darkening with wavering energy. He had a skill cooking right up his sleeve and Chaz looked ready for business. He had yet to claim a monster kill all for himself, but those birds just moved too damn fast. It was time to slow them down a bit.

"No, don't!" Rika cried out, vainly trying to keep her winter coat from being blown open by the winds. Her intuition wasn't quite clear but she could still see the great mistake that Chaz was likely to make. If he used his earth skill against the monster he would surely freeze it in place, but to do it on weakening ice at a particular angle would surely cause a great...

Crack! That sound was heard even amidst the howling background noise. It was the sound of solid ice splintering as Chaz drove the blade of his sword straight into its melting heart. There was relative quiet for a time as the motions of the dezo owl were slowed to a halt, then from beneath Chaz's boots he heard the deep rumble of ancient glacier ice coming back to life. All of a sudden it felt like Chaz had swallowed a fat hairy caterpillar; his throat felt all prickly and too tight. Wren glanced at the ground below him and then back up at Chaz. A widening fissure separated Wren from the others. The cliff was breaking away. The android looked utterly blank, as usual.

"I am falling." He said, and Wren was correct.

The puncture of Chaz's sword into the swell of the hill created a series of stress fractures that had cracked all the way down to the bottom of the cliff. As the large plane of ice dropped down from the others Wren took a couple of steps away from Chaz in order to adjust to the change in his center of balance, his arms spaced out from his body carefully. Soon he did not even have ground to stand on as gravity and the air currents knocked him off the broken floor. Without making a single cry of protest, the android fell from the cliff, into the darkness below.

Chaz was only kneeling at the edge of the precipice, the hilt of his sword in his trembling hands, staring at what he had done. "_Wren!_" He screamed with all the breath in his lungs, standing and losing all sense of his personal safety as he tried to step off the cliff and save his friend.

He would have done this without much of a second thought if Rika had not stepped up in time and saved him from a certain death. She reached out from behind Chaz and grabbed roughly at his forearm, yanking him backwards with excessive force. Chaz tipped back on one heel, his other foot seeking some kind of support in the open air. Rika threw Chaz flat on his back and while he was struggling to prop himself up on his elbows they both heard the great resounding crash of tons of ice slapping and smashing at the bottom of the chasm below.

The storm was clearing, but only very slightly, not enough for it to be the end. Rika looked ahead heedlessly, perhaps trying to register what had happened to her mentor, her bright pink hair flapping in the wind. Beneath the newly stunted cliff the ravine was circular in shape, and very wide. If it was what Rika thought it was, a snow worm burrow, then it might even be up to several miles deep. Not even Wren could survive a fall that devastating. Rika bit her lip and turned to Chaz, now on the verge of tears. "Stop it. We can't afford to lose you too."

The weight of what he had just caused caught up to Chaz's mind. Because he had not thought his actions through he might have killed one of his friends. His most important friend. Chaz jumped up and scrabbled over to the edge of the cliff again, flattening himself against the ground and looking down, desperate to see the android on a ledge of some kind, or relentlessly climbing back up the cliff wall. Wren was practically a palman tank, he was supposed to be virtually indestructible. Could something so basic and stupid possibly kill him? If so, then it was Chaz's fault. All his.

"_Wren!_" The hunter cried again and it seemed to echo all the way down the ravine. "_Can you hear me? Answer!_"

Silence.

Rika took Chaz's hand and effortlessly pulled him up from the ground. She was weeping now, just as she had wept for Seed, but she also had a small idea. It was a long shot but better than nothing. "Come on, follow me!" She ordered, and they ran back to the ice digger together, Chaz teetering on the edge of a fully-blown panic attack. Rika tried to take control of the situation while Chaz could not. "If Wren really is still alive and not unconscious, we should be able to reach him using the ice digger's radio. He can pick up narrowband frequency within a ten mile radius!"

"Oh gods Rika, I didn't _mean_ for that to happen! It's all my fault! If Wren is dead then _it's all my fault!_" Chaz howled.

"Keep control of yourself!" Rika shouted, but her heart reached out to him. She wanted to put her arms around Chaz and console him, for she understood Chaz's feelings. He didn't want to lose another close friend, just as he had lost Alys not that long ago. The numan girl managed a little smile through her weeping. "Don't say things like that. Wren wouldn't want you to think that way. Now hurry up, there still might be a chance!"

Every time that Chaz managed to get close to something he could treasure, it was always taken from him, held away at an arm's length. But please not Wren, not something that he was only beginning to appreciate. Just as he and Wren had run to Rika's aid in the Air Castle, now Chaz and Rika were doing the very same thing for him.

The blond hunter steeled himself and nodded at Rika's words. "Okay, I'm right behind you." He said.


	10. Cliffhanger

(A/N: I am eternally sorry to say that there is no shonen-ai in this chapter. Most of it is just Chaz/Rika romance and action-adventure. But for good things to happen you have to work towards them, so the very next chapter will be shonen-ai galore! Besides, you have to have a little bit of other pairings in order to make a love triangle work. (Love triangle? In later chapters maybe. Oooo...) Please bear with me and enjoy the show!)

It came as a complete surprise to himself more than anybody else that Chaz was able to calm down a little as he and Rika popped the catch that opened the door of the hull and extended the ramp leading back into the ice digger. As the seconds ticked by Chaz's memory of Wren's fall seemed to become surreal to his senses, something preposterous and utterly unthinkable. This was a dangerous thought to have, but at least it allowed Chaz Ashley to cope. His mouth felt sour from the adrenaline he had burnt up in his body and his hands were numb, nicely chilled. Not just his hands though, everything about him felt numb, felt like stone.

Rika dashed up the steps like gravity did not apply to her and nearly crashed into Kyra who was peeking out of the opening, ruining that image. She pivoted to the side, avoiding a collision, but Kyra defensively raised her hands in a warding gesture anyway. "Rika-" She began, then caught sight of a snow-dusted Chaz hurriedly following Rika up the ramp. Something bad had happened, she could read it off the young hunter's face. Kyra stepped out of the entranceway and gave them room to come inside. A raw wind was blowing through the ice digger now and it completely siphoned all the warmth out of the vehicle.

Rune was sitting carelessly in the driver's seat, his feet propped up on the dashboard, a little close for comfort to the ice digger's controls. The esper has his hands behind his head and it seemed like he was relaxing. However now Rune noticed the chill in the room and glanced towards its source, frowning in an annoyed fashion. "Hey, what did I say about closing that?" He scolded Kyra, but the girl only shrugged softly, mutely conveying that she had no idea what was going on.

The heels of Rika's boots clicked audibly upon the digger's metal floor as she walked up to Rune and gently shoved the esper's feet off the control panel. He sat up straighter in his chair but wasn't angry with the numan girl, he was beginning to pick up from her and the others that something had gone wrong. Rika looked at him gravely after she had removed the radio receiver from its plastic cradle. She held it in her hand as if it were a delicate wine glass. "Wren's fallen down a chasm. We don't know if he's still alive or not. I'm going to use this radio to see if I can contact him."

She had explained it so neatly that nobody had reason to doubt her or her idea. Secretly, known only to himself, Rune had always feared that something like this would happen, that their fellowship would not be broken by a great or courageous battle, but by something as stupid and as preventable as a mere accident. Here it was. Rune was utterly serious. "Can you really reach him on that thing?" He inquired, not knowing much about telemental machines. Rune knew that the radio could broadcast a voice, but could it reach Wren who was supposedly gone?

Rika had used a radio similar to this one to talk to Wren on countless occasions in her so-called 'childhood', so she was quite confident that her idea would work. The one real gamble would be if Wren was still alive or conscious to hear the broadcast or not. If he _really_ was dead, then they would have to discover a way to get down there and recover his body. It would be the least they could do. Rika felt her eyes prickle and burn anew at that thought.

Slowly moving over to one of the long blue couches built into the back wall of the cockpit, Chaz sat down. He felt slightly better the very moment he did so, although that was nowhere near enough to make him feel optimistic. Chaz felt safer sitting, that way he wouldn't lose his legs to the faint and sickening feeling he had rolling about in his stomach. It was like he had some kind of cold liquid weight in there, drawing all his organs to his feet. Especially his heart. Kyra took one look at Chaz's ashen face and immediately understood. She could see the worry and the guilt. The female esper took a seat close beside him and lifted Chaz's hand from his lap, holding it and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

He had done the stupidest and most horrible thing that a hunter could ever do. He had either taken his friend's life or had severely wounded him. That sort of thing was unforgivable, a hundred times worse than the sin that Chaz had been afraid of committing in the first place. Kyra's telelmental powers were stronger than the average esper, so she could pick up on feelings quite easily, even though actual thoughts were locked to her. It came as no surprise to Kyra for her to feel Chaz's afraid and guilty emotions through him, so when he suddenly and silently started to cry she was already prepared to draw into a consoling hug.

Meanwhile, Rika was attempting to disconnect the radio from the overhead speakers and then find the correct frequency here on Dezoris. It would be tricky, but she would have to tune it _just right_ for success. With her acute hearing she heard Kyra sigh an empathetic "Ohhh…" to Chaz, just as she heard the hunter's breathing change slightly to that of somebody trying hard not to cry. Rika could understand him, for she hadn't a dry eye as well. What she did wish deeply for was to take Kyra's place. She would have liked to be the one to soothe Chaz's panic, but she also had a most important job to do.

"This is the only option we have left at the moment." Rika announced regarding Rune's question, spoken barely a minute, and yet it felt more like an hour, ago. The numan girl heard a satisfying click and then a whole lot of static as she managed to force the radio system directly onto Dezoris' local radio waves. The horrid sound was loud and painful, but now they were getting somewhere. She wasn't expecting any other broadcasts, just the one that she would make. "Hello Wren, this is Rika. Do you read me? Please respond."

The static did not seem to change in frequency or pitch at all. Unperturbed, Rika fiddled with the dial a bit more and tried her message all over again. The static was a little quieter this time but there was still no reply. After several messages over varying frequencies Rika began to frown. "I just can't seem to pick up a single thing." She said softly and sadly to the others.

"Move over." Commanded Rune as he stood up from the driver's chair and nudged Rika out of the way. The magician held the receiver in one black-gloved hand and wrenched the dial all the way to the other side of the monitor with one deft twist. There was a cacophony of hissing yowling white noise, sped up like a recording when played back at a doubly fast rate. Rune flinched at the sound. "Er… I didn't break it, did I?" He asked Rika.

Whilst Rune and the others recoiled at the loud unpleasant noise, Chaz's ears almost felt like they had perked up. The youth raised his head and wiped away the tears from his face and a clear runner of snot from his nose. It might have just been his imagination but he could have sworn he had heard something strange in that sound. Chaz looked to Rune urgently. "Turn the dial all the way back to the beginning again but only do it at half the speed you used before." He demanded.

Rune observed Chaz quietly for a second and then shrugged. What harm could it do? The esper did as he was ordered and twisted it back at a speed that was only slightly faster than normal. The noise hit them again but it was bearable this time. Chaz leant forward in his seat, as if it would allow him to hear a little better. There was most definitely something there. No, that wasn't right. It was something that was _not there_. "Somewhere in the middle, for about a quarter of a second there is no static. Go back to that part, Rune."

At that point Rika had her revelation. She clapped her hands once at the sheer surprise of her deduction. "Of course! I was looking for words or a message, but if Wren really _was_ damaged he wouldn't waste his energy talking persistently into a void. What I _should_ have been looking for was radio silence! I'm sorry everyone for being so silly." Quickly the girl searched for that soundless frequency, the one that carried absolutely no static whatsoever. It took a minute or two because the exact location was tiny compared to the other frequencies, but once Rika fiddled a bit she managed to phase out the tiny crackles that were overlapping on their silence.

Chaz stood up and walked over to the control panel as Rika raised the receiver to her lips. His legs felt lined with lead, that's how heavy they were. When he held out his hand for the receiver and smiled weakly at her, the numan girl understood and placed the small device in his grasp. Chaz was their leader, and this was his job. The hunter held the receiver to his mouth and imitated what Rika had done. "Wren? This is Chaz. If you can hear me please tell us if you're okay. Can you hear me?"

This was just like talking to a brick wall. Chaz persisted doggedly despite sensing his feeling of newfound hope draining away. He could rattle off any kind of call if he wanted now, some nasty voice in his mind seemed to reassure him that he was would never get a reply if he did. Wren was as quiet as the nearly dying, or the dead. Chaz stopped speaking in mind-sentence and sighed, a truly heartbreaking sound. There was only one last thing left to try.

He boldly continued his message. It was directed at Wren, but in all honesty Chaz was also using it as a method to torture himself. "I refuse to believe you are dead. You're stronger than that and smart enough not to die in some dark, empty pit. The only other thing I can guess is that you can't reply to us even if you wanted to. I don't know, maybe some part of you became broken during the fall. If you can hear me, I want to say that I'm sorry for being so stupid so frequently. Even if you are dead, we're still going to go down there and find you."

He wished that he could say something kinder and softer to his friend, but he didn't think he could do that while Rika and the other two were around. Chaz just needed to be blunt and simple now. "If you want to answer us you don't have to do it with words. Just do something, _anything_ that can prove to us there is somebody else on the other side. Over." That was the extent of everything he could think of. The blond youth looked at the receiver, daring not to hope anymore. _Goodbye, Wren…_ He thought at last.

Less than five seconds after Chaz had made his last request, the maintained radio silence that the adventurers had been listening to suddenly went out. What replaced it was normal run-of-the-mill static. All four of them were nearly certain that they had heard a quiet click before the connection had dropped out. Was that a sign, or was it merely coincidence?

It was easier to hope for the best than to expect the worst. Chaz carefully placed the receiver back in its cradle. It was useless to them now, but the hunter hoped that he had gotten an answer. He turned towards Rika and took her by the hand, brushing a thumb over her gloved knuckles. She spoke. "I want to save him. Will you come with me?"

She didn't even have to ask. If he could save Wren then he wasn't going to back away. He didn't want to see Rika cry over a lost friend, and he didn't want to cry himself, either. Chaz knew that he certainly would if given the opportunity. He smiled briefly, nodded, then ran for the exit left open on the ice digger. Little drifts of snow had built up and gathered upon the floor. Rika kicked her way through one of them as she followed her leader back into the snowstorm.

Rune snorted and crossed his arms, watching the pair take their leave. "They didn't even ask us if we wanted to come with them. Whatever happened to teamwork?" He complained, but he didn't really seem all that bothered by it. He was even smirking a little, almost like a father who was watching his children run off on their own for the very first time. Rune pulled his white hood up to cover his head and made for the exit himself, conjuring his staff.

Kyra stopped him with a single word. "Wait."

Rune glanced at her. "What is it?" He asked, impatient and wanting to catch up to the others.

The female esper rose to her feet and tugged on her clothes a little, straightening them out. "I think they forgot about us because we didn't want to go outside in the first place. We weren't there when Wren fell. Rune, I want to tell you something now because I know I can never keep a secret. I was always a tattletale as a child." Kyra paused, thought a little, then continued. "I touched on Chaz's feelings when he was here sitting next to me. I couldn't help it, he was so upset I would have had to veil my mind, cover my ears and gone 'La, la, la!' not to sense it. I got the feeling that he caused this whole mess, but I also got another feeling that you have to keep secret. Don't tell anybody, okay?"

The reverent Lutz didn't say anything but that was an affirmation in Kyra's eyes. He made a quick gesture with one hand for her to hurry up and spit it out.

The girl obliged him. "I think Chaz is in love." She said, and then giggled.

xxx

Looking over that broken precipice Chaz once again found himself wondering how a person could survive that fall.

His teeth chattered relentlessly as he knelt near the edge and thought hard on how they could get a couple of people down there without breaking their necks. That was only the surface of the problem. If they _could_ get down there and find Wren they'd be just as stuck as he was. They could all freeze together merrily at the bottom of the crevasse. That was what Chaz's practical mind was telling him, hinting a little, but just not saying it outright that maybe they should leave Wren behind, whether he was still alive or not. Chaz hated that part of his mind and tried to ignore it, but the devious voice of reason refused to go away.

The ice was brittle, it had weakened considerably since the first fracture and it was definitely precarious. It was holding his own weight comfortably but he didn't know if it could bear two people at once, or three or four. Rika was standing a safe distance away, trembling in the blizzard and attempting to put on a brave face. She was trying to be strong, but in truth the unveiled cold of Dezoris was freezing her straight to her heart. Chaz didn't really know how he was withstanding it himself. Perhaps it was his determination, his wild eagerness to save Wren that was still keeping him going.

His original plan had been to drop a rope down there and climb single-file into the depth below, just as they had saved a young Monsen boy from the monsters beneath the crust of Motavia. If it had worked back then it might as well again this time. However, Chaz wasn't confident that the cliff would be able to support the weight of four people and the pressure of the rope against its sharp and thin edge. If the ice did not snap then the jagged edges of the cliff might bite into the rope and saw it in two. It was too dangerous of an idea to try.

As the two espers caught up to Rika and stood beside her, one on either side, Chaz also rose and glanced at them, feeling like a child who has lost his way. He was trying hard not to cry out of frustration, actually. Wren was alive down there and they just couldn't reach him! What would Alys have done if she were in the same position that Chaz was in right now? The hunter tried to visualize it, attempting to slow down his rapidly beating heart. Firstly, she would not be panicking as badly as he was, that was more than certain. Alys had been cool. Alys had been calm. She would have thought of a plan and stuck to it no matter what. She would have made it work by the sheer force of her will alone.

But Chaz had no plan. He didn't have anything at all. He wasn't Alys either, so he couldn't think like her, as much as he would have wanted to. Rune saw the inner battle Chaz was having with himself and sighed, though it was completely muted out by the storm. They were all going to catch pneumonia, each and every one of them. The esper took a step forward onto the weakened ice and heard it groan softly and give a little under his feet. He stepped away in a hurry. "Chaz!" He shouted over the wind. "This area is nothing but frozen water! It's a damned petrified _ocean_! If you don't move from there you'll drop like a stone! Move it, shorty!"

Frozen water? Chaz had not known that. He had assumed that everything below the layer of snow and glacier was solid stone. An idea touched upon him and then vanished, falling though the fingers of his mind. The youth gritted his teeth in dismay, stopping them from chattering. For just one second there he had almost had an answer! "What did you say?" He shouted back, his throat raw from the cold air.

"I said let's go back to the ice digger!" The magician replied, cupping one hand around his mouth to enhance the volume of his voice. They weren't accomplishing anything standing out here in the blizzard and freezing to death. If Wren fell and died, then that was a vast loss, but they could still go on without him, as cruel as it might sound. Rika had a rudimentary knowledge of machines, so she could fly the Landale and drive the ice digger in Wren's place. She had successfully managed to fly the space shuttle to Zelan, had she not? Wren could be replaced, but Chaz couldn't be. The boy had no real understanding of just how important he was, not just yet.

It was the ice digger. That was the answer. Of course! How could Chaz have been so dense? The ice digger could burrow through solid ice as long as it was not seamed with hard rocks or stone. Chaz remembered Wren telling him that a long time ago, before their relationship had ever been so much as a thought. If they found a bit of a ledge and tilted the digger's drills towards the ground, they could burrow _under_ the ice and save Wren! Chaz felt like he could have kissed Rune for that information, had he not been put off from knowing that the esper was an arrogant bastard.

He broke out into a grin and started back towards his friends, to Rika in particular because she was the closest. This ice was just so unnerving to walk on, he'd feel much safer once he was holding her hand. She stretched out her hand obligingly to him, the claws in her gloves retracted back safely.

It was then that something that was thought to be forgotten came back with a vengeance.

The dezo owl that had started this whole mess had not been destroyed by Chaz's earth attack; it was only neutralized. It had been entirely frozen, its heart, breath and pulse stopped, but once Chaz's skill wore off, as all earth skills do with time, the bird was restored back to perfect health with its rage completely unchecked. It knew that the blond hunter had threatened its nest and had tried to stop its life. Now it was time for payback.

It flew through the air silently, the great whooshes of its beating wings muffled by the blizzard. It had been _born_ to hunt in that climate. It did not screech out a challenge, learning from its past mistakes, soaring high into the air and then spiraling down into a corkscrew dive, folding its body into itself so that it resembled a speeding bullet. It struck Chaz hard in the shoulder, clanging against his armor and leaving a sizeable dent. The impact of this collision fractured the bird's skull, and while it may be gratifying to know that the owl died shortly after from its own kamikaze injury, it died triumphantly, its revenge well met.

Chaz was knocked greatly off balance just as he took Rika's outstretched hand. He was pushed backwards and wound up pulling Rika out onto the dangerous ice with him. The edge of the cliff seemed to sag under their collective weight. Kyra gasped and started forward to pull Rika back into safety but Rune lunged for her and held her back by her arms.

"Let me go!" The young female esper shrieked. "I have to save them!"

Rune frowned severely and yanked her back towards him. "No! Show some sense! If you step on that ice you'll kill the both of them!" He roared. This was just like a damned lemming march off a cliff!

At that very moment the ice around Chaz's feet snapped. His footing gone, he didn't even have a second to realise his predicament, only that he couldn't feel the ground anymore. With a yelp he dropped out of sight of the espers.

The hunter's very life rested solely on Rika's physical strength. Gravity worked hard to wrench Chaz's hand out of her grip but Rika resisted it with almost supernuman tenacity, falling to her knees and extending herself beyond the broken edge of the cliff. This was the most dangerous position she had even been in her entire life. There was no telling when the ice around _her_ body would break as well. She only had Chaz by one hand, the hunter's body dangling over a drop that could be miles deep. If she let go he would fall and die. "Chaz! It's okay! I've got you!" Rika cried, trying to pull him up by one arm and failing. Her other hand was bracing her body against the ice so she would not slip off as well. He was too heavy.

He craned his neck up to look at her and the expression on his face almost terrified Rika. She had _never_ seen anybody look so frightened before. Chaz's pupils had shrunken down to the size of pinpricks and he was as white as the snow, save for two dots of colour high on his cheeks. The way he was breathing suggested that he was trying not to hyperventilate. Chaz was scared, but why shouldn't he be? He was hanging by a thread over death. "I'm… guh-gonna die…" He stammered through what seemed like a hiccup.

Rika shook her head fiercely. "No, you're not going to die!" She argued. "I'll pull you up! I promise!" And she began to do just that, raising Chaz up a couple of inches before her strength failed her and she had to lower him down again. Oh, why couldn't she have been just a little bit stronger? Rika heard another sickly creak and realised that this time it was from _her_ piece of ice. She couldn't hold on to Chaz and kneel there at the same time without condemning them both. The girl ignored that piece of truth, she couldn't even _consider_ letting him go.

Kyra cried out again when she heard the ice creak and tried to wrestle out of Rune's grasp, thrashing with her legs and smacking the back of her head hard against Rune's chin. The reverent Lutz grunted in pain and held onto her even tighter, all the while his mind racing to think of a way to save them both. He could reinforce the cliff's integrity with a Nawat technique, but not without freezing Chaz and Rika to death at the same time. _Damn it! There must be a way!_ He thought furiously.

Blood started to run down Rika's arm again, the wound she had patched up using a Gires technique rupturing under the strain. Rika tried not to wince at the burning sensation and instead attempted to focus on another burning pain, the muscles in her arms as they moaned and begged to be given a rest. The blood stopped and froze to her skin before it could reach Chaz's clasped hand but the youth saw it and felt sick. Literally, he could feel his breakfast trying to slide all the way up his throat again. He forced it back down with a swallow and looked away from her. Here it was, he was going to be responsible for Rika's death as well.

Looking away from Rika's face compelled him to study the underside of the cliff wall with remarkable clarity. Chaz could see the thin spidery networks of cracks branching out from where Rika was kneeling. They were spreading like an infectious disease. All at once Chaz said something that came straight from his heart, without even touching the synapses in his head. "Rika, drop me." He announced with grave conviction.

She reacted as if she had been slapped. Her bright blue eyes were brilliant in their fear. "I won't! I won't!" Rika shouted.

Actually, this kind of felt like a good idea. One of the sanest decisions he had made in ages. It felt like something had died inside of him as he realized this. Chaz guessed that it was his fear, his fears of dying and of death. It had killed itself with its own fear! Boy, did that make Chaz want to laugh. In truth however the cold numbing feeling that settled around his soul was the acceptance of his fate. There was nothing more that the others could do to change it, but Chaz at least could do something to save somebody else. Somebody he loved. He could save Rika's life by forfeiting his.

"You have to drop me. If you don't I'll drag you down with me. Once I'm gone Rune and Kyra can pull you to safety." Chaz reasoned with a tranquility that came from within and spread all throughout him. His colour returned and his frantic breathing had ceased. He was even smiling a little, guiltily.

Martyrdom made Rika furious. It reminded her all too much of Seed, who for all intents and purposes had been her father. Seed had given her life and had relinquished its own life to protect the people of Motavia from itself, from the day that it would eventually go haywire and become an enemy. She couldn't bear to witness another sacrifice this time. Not him. Not Chaz. "I can't let you go…" She said not in a shout, but in a sob.

Chaz seemed to look sorry for her. He did not envy her the position that she was in. If their roles had been reversed, if _he_ had to be the one holding onto her life in a single grip, he wouldn't trust himself to save his own life and lose Rika's. He'd probably do what his heart would have told him to do and fallen with her off the cliff.

The hunter had one more idea, a sadistic one that must have come from the part of him that had slit the Xe-A-Thoul's throat. With his spare hand that was hanging limply by his side he drew his hunting life. Raising it, Chaz held it above the joint of his wrist. "Let me go, or I'll cut off my own hand to fall free. I'll cut the flesh and saw through the bone until you let go."

Rika studied him hard to try and catch his bluff. Chaz's face was open and honest, and he only looked about half of his age. Eight years old, or maybe even seven. She wasn't one to talk, but Great Light, he seemed so young! He wasn't bluffing either, he had a clear idea of what he was about to do. A fraction of Rika's platform snapped off under their combined weight and Rika's left knee had no place for it to go. With fantastic balance she edged to the side a little, trying to make room. "Chaz…" Rika cried, "oh Chaz…"

He carried out his threat. He pressed the blade of his knife deep into the flesh of his forearm. Chaz hissed, the muscles beneath the wound tensing, and a wealth of blood bubbled forth.

Kyra screamed.

And then Rika released him. Nobody really knew if it was from the drawing of the blood or Rika's chosen decision. Even Rika herself did not completely know.

But the important part was that Rika had released him, and Chaz had fallen.


	11. Subterranean Reunion

Deep down inside he really hadn't expected Rika to let go. He had wanted her to, of course, but in the center of every palman mind and heart there lives an eternal, unquenchable contradiction. She had reacted to his threat of self harm and had acted accordingly, releasing Chaz from the only restraint that was keeping him safe and her in grave danger. She hated to do it, she knew that she might be killing him, but what else could she do? He was going to fall either way, at least he could do it intact.

Chaz fell. Suddenly he was airborne. His mind should have been reeling and frozen with a hundred different thoughts and emotions, yet the clear knowledge of this simple descent left his mind surprisingly calm. It felt weird to fall backwards into darkness, and it felt even weirder to be unaware and unable to even see the deep pit that would become his grave. Chaz's eyes shot up and he caught one last look at Rika's sad, despairing face as the cliff towered above him and swept her away from his view.

Wind whistled through his outstretched arms and the world darkened as the sky rose away from him. Chaz released his dagger but found that he just could not close his eyes, fearing that if he did it would be the last glimpse of the world that he would ever get to see. Chaz would not let himself be taken by death until the very last second. He smiled at that idea, and also at another one boiling somewhere in his mind. He and Wren could fall, but Rika and the others would still be alive. They could continue their quest without him.

His stomach turned at the thought of what had happened to Wren. Chaz had heard the strident crash of metal against hardened ice, and he thought that it would be pretty much impossible for his friend to still be alive. A cry tore through Chaz's throat as he realized the enormity of the situation. He had finally begun to feel good about his strange relationship with the large android, and now that the uncertainty had passed it was all going to be stripped away from him? It was so unfair. Death was unfair. He hated it! Well, at least he didn't have to surrender and give up; he would fight to the bitter end. He owed it to Wren to try, one last time.

A jutting edge of the cliff grated by his body and the sudden, momentary friction ripped away a sleeve of his red bodysuit and a painful amount of his skin as well, drawing his blood in midair. It had ripped his knife wound open even further. Chaz cried out again in surprise and clutched at his hurt arm, causing him to roll on his side. His eyes were half squinted shut from the pain but now he could see the inky black darkness of the pit, the highway of a vastly large snow worm. There was no bottom to be seen, but undoubtedly that would change soon. Chaz's clear mind was fuzzed a little from the injury, but from out of nowhere he had an amazing idea, a life saving idea.

Chaz couldn't halt his descent, but maybe he could slow it down just enough so that he might live through the experience. He braced both his hands out in front of his body, ignoring the sting, "Gizan!" He shouted, his voice carried away by the wind.

His plan was to create an opposing force to push against the great force of his fall. A pocket of violent air was formed from his technique and cushioned itself below Chaz's body, slamming hard against his chest. He had not predicted that his own technique, made of nothing but wind, would severely hurt him so. It was like being smashed in the chest by a sledgehammer. Chaz felt the breath being forced out of his lungs and he yelped like a startled dog, a supplementary crack from one of his wrists reminding him of the consequences of his actions.

Of the two winds pushing against one another, it was Chaz's wrists which gave out first. Still, that one painful bump had knocked quite a lot off his rate of descent, so that when the hunter closed his eyes and blacked out momentarily from his hurt and the shock of his fall, he was still unquestionably alive when he came to again. He was not conscious for the final impact, and with all things considered that was probably the greatest luck of them all.

His armor saved him from dislocating his shoulder. Chaz struck the ground square and true with his shoulder plate and laid there silent and twisted like a knotted length of cloth. Blood from the deep scrapes and the cut on his arm soaked into the stony snow beneath him. Chaz was lying in an open tunnel, a burrow that may or may not be abandoned. His young face was unreadable in unconsciousness, unaware that he was not out of danger just yet. It was very quiet in the tunnels; Chaz had fallen so far that the voices of Rika, his friends and the howling of the storm could no longer reach him.

When he woke up about half an hour after landing in the pit, a good half of his face had gone chilly and numb from the layer of snow that had become his pillow. He couldn't feel anything in his left cheek and the rest of his body felt so stiff and cold, save for his shoulder and arm which was pulsing with painful heat. He didn't experience any sensations at all in his wrist until he chanced to move it, which caused a needle of agony to bolt through the marrow of the bone. Chaz gasped and was struck fully conscious by the experience. The groggy fuzz in his mind was shoved away.

First, he tried to gather his bearings. An important lesson that a hunter needed to learn was to adapt to their situation as quickly as possible. Chaz put his weight onto one arm and cradled his hurt wrist against his chest, raising his head although it felt like the vertebrae in his neck had locked themselves together. Chaz moaned softly, willing himself not to panic, to remain calm.

On the bright side of things, he was still alive. That was something to be grateful for. Conversely, however, he was stuck on a flat cliff top that clung to the deepening funnel of the pit. It appeared to be about a hundred yards long and three hundred yards wide, looking a little like an unfenced balcony, isolated and bare. The walls around it seemed impossible to climb and the path below it was far too risky to take. Chaz was trapped there, and the boy felt too disheartened even to stand. It was far too much effort when he was already lost.

Thirty yards away the snow was disturbed, as part of the towering wall was scratched into a shallow trench which ended at that point. It looked like Wren had hit the wall several times before he had reached the bottom. The android was there on the ledge along with Chaz, but he did not seem to be in very good condition. Chaz was sure than an arm joint was not meant to bend that way, it was a little too gruesome for him to even look at. He gritted his teeth but knew that he couldn't stand yet, not right now. His poor friend...

When Wren suddenly moved Chaz flinched reflexively because it seemed like he had risen from the dead. He didn't make the slightest sound as he pushed up with his arms and raised his head from the snow drift. With his dislocated arm it only enhanced the image that Wren's fall had definitely killed him. But he was hardier than a regular biological being, Chaz thought that this might seem like nothing to Wren. Still, the hunter couldn't help but look at the dislocation and shudder in empathy.

He pulled himself together and got to his knees, his arm hanging limply by his side. There was a sickening, grating metallic crack as Wren reached over with his well arm and violently snapped the limb back into its proper place. It was not like he had properly popped the joint back into its socket; his arm still looked undeniably damaged, but he used it to push up off the ground and rise to his feet.

"Hello?" Wren said calmly, turning his head to look at him without much of a search. Chaz tried to stand up himself and greet him, but he thoughtlessly put weight on his wrist and could have sworn that he felt one of the bones below the wrist joint give way a little. He could barely swallow back the pained hiss that he made. Wren heard the sound and registered his new company. The blank, uncaring expression on his face faded as he took one or two steps towards the hunter. His balance seemed to be pretty much shot. "Chaz!" He exclaimed, surprised that the youth was there.

If Wren's balance was shot, then Chaz's balance was totally nonexistent, wobbling to his feet and swaying like he was a drunken man. He wasn't especially wounded, it was only his arms and shoulder and his head seemed perfectly fine, but he was overwhelmed and exhausted from everything that had happened in the past few hours. Seeing Wren again put him at the very end of his emotional reserves. The nest and the owls, his friend's falling, his own panic and descent, forcing Rika to nearly kill him…

It was all just too much. He knew that he was about to faint. Wren must have seen that pretty clearly too, for as soon as Chaz got up and made his first sway Wren was already rushing towards him, to catch him when he fell. Thank the gods the android was not badly hurt, were Chaz's thoughts as he stepped forward and tipped over, smiling in his gratitude and a general loss of blood. The world grayed out around the edges, he distantly felt somebody grab him, and the boy once again sank into the black unconsciousness of which he knew so well.

Wren caught Chaz in his arms before the hunter managed to hit the snow. He folded against him softly with a weak little sigh. The android knelt, carrying the boy with him and regarding Chaz as carefully as he could. He was bleeding, not badly, but he was still hurt. Wren looked visibly sad and gently brushed the tips of his fingers down the side of the blond's pale face.

"You came for me, Chaz. I didn't think that you would…" He murmured to the fainted boy and then smiled, guiltily.

xxx

A sharp pain in his arm instantly aroused Chaz from his stupor. His fight-or-flight hunter's mind insisted to him that he had suddenly been attacked and he raised his stinging hand and arm to strike out at the assailant who had hurt him. He didn't quite remember where he was just yet and that was all that he could do to defend himself.

His hand was caught before it could make contact with Wren's face. The android gripped it as lightly as he could without causing Chaz excess pain and placed it back down against the youth's side. The boy looked up at him hazily with confused and tired eyes. Wren had him propped up against the side of the cliff wall. He was leaning over him slightly, his hands smelling of dimate. Chaz's hurt arm felt tight and cold, but the rest of him felt pretty cold as well. He remembered where he was and groaned, but then grinned ironically as well.

When recognition flitted into Chaz's eyes Wren knelt back and was relieved. He hadn't been quite sure that Chaz would be able to wake up again, not in temperatures like these. Still, he had bound and treated the wound upon the hunter's arm, though there was nothing that he could do about the broken wrist. A technique or something greater was needed to heal that. "How do you feel?" He asked softly. How Chaz had survived such a fall was surely a mystery to him.

Chaz didn't feel anything anymore, not even the barest iota of pain. _That_ was how cold and numb he was. The lack of feeling was a bit of a blessing in this case. "Oh Wren, thank gods you're alive. I was so afraid that you were dead and we'd lost you." He whimpered, forcing his numb limbs to move and he pushed himself forward, wrapping his arms about his friend. He didn't have to be so awkward about hugging Wren as there was nobody else to watch them or judge him. Chaz pressed his face against Wren's neck and sighed, relieved. "You have _no idea_ how worried Rika and I were."

Wren had not expected such a forceful reaction from the boy. He had gone from comatose to lively in less than ten seconds. Chaz's arms were draped across his shoulders, clinging, and Wren didn't know if he should pry him away or let him stay there. What was the proper thing to do? He decided not to do anything about it. Wren liked it when Chaz seemed to be pleased. "I am glad you are safe too." The android murmured, and then felt Chaz tighten his hold on him. He needed to be careful or else he was going to hurt himself again.

The hunter chuckled. "If I hadn't hit this ledge like you had there's no way I would have survived. It makes me wonder if we really _do_ have a deity watching over us." He felt Wren grasp him gently and then push him back against the wall. He began to remove Chaz's metal armor, tugging at the buckles beneath it in something of a practiced motion. The surface of the high-quality laconia had developed a bit of a frosted sheen. Chaz blushed a little. What on Dezoris was Wren trying to do to him? "Hey, stop it…" He whined, trying to wriggle away.

"I need to remove this armor before you contract hypothermia. It is a safety precaution." Wren explained patiently. "You have no idea just how easily metal can absorb the cold. Please trust me, I know." He smiled a little as he said that. Had Wren been trying to make a joke? Chaz didn't really know anymore, but it could have been possible. The android managed to get Chaz' chest plate off and then took one of his hands to remove the metal arm guards. He was very gentle, especially for somebody who could probably bend a steel bar into a pretzel if he so desired.

Chaz's hurt arm was peppered with spots of blood. Wren had torn his already ripped sleeve further to procure a bandage that would halt the flow of blood to the wound. He had tied it just tightly enough to stop the ripped veins from bleeding. With time and the help of the dimate the cut would heal and disappear, leaving only a faint scar behind. He sensed that Wren was wanting to ask him _why_ he was injured in such a way, an obvious knife wound, but he appeared to have the tact not to ask. "How badly are you hurt, Wren?" Chaz questioned without hesitation.

Funny that Chaz should ask him that. It was not often that palmans asked Wren how he was feeling. He was quite moderately damaged, but not to the naked eye. The only visible damage was to his left arm, which he had used as a shock absorber as he had crashed his way down the cliff. That was the least of his worries, to be honest. But he didn't bleed like Chaz did and that was more important to Wren right now, instead of his own health. "I am fine." He said after a moment's hesitation.

That slight pause right before he spoke was enough to show Chaz that Wren was lying to him. That hurt him a little because he had hoped his friend had stopped lying to him once they had become… together, but Chaz also hoped that Wren had chosen to hide the truth and keep him from worrying more. It was touching, Chaz didn't think he had enough emotional energy left to continue fretting. He let Wren's words slide from his mind, focussing on the android's touch that seemed far different than usual. "You're warm." He announced slowly, like it was the most profound and mystifying knowledge in the world.

Wren finished removing the metal pieces of Chaz's armor and took a seat beside his younger friend, dwarfing the blond hunter in comparison. Chaz was toying with the tingling feeling he had left in his hand, the pins-and-needles sensation that occurs when a numb limb is introduced to an immediate source of heat. "I can freeze easily in temperatures such as this, just like a palman, so I had to turn my heating system up quite a bit to break even on this problem." Wren explained.

"I didn't know you could do that." Chaz replied, a little baffled. He wished he had known that sooner. There had been so many times on Dezoris, particularly the dark nights, when he would have sold his very soul for just a slight skerrick of heat. Okay, so maybe he wouldn't have thought of Wren about things like that more than a week ago, but it helped to know about these things. He wasn't about to waste an opportunity like this now.

He scooted over more closely to his friend, keeping his hurt arm tucked safely in his lap, and leant against Wren's side with a big satisfied grin on his face. He felt better already and was glad of the fact that Wren was not about to shove him away. It wasn't really enough to keep him totally warm, but it sure was a hell of an improvement. "Are you going to tell me how you cut yourself?" Wren asked after a couple of minutes, but Chaz already knew what he was going to say regarding that.

"Only if you tell me the truth about how banged-up you really are." The youth retorted. That certainly shut Wren up. Chaz felt a little bad that he had, though. He thought about Rika and the others way up in the upper world. Rune and Kyra must have successfully saved Rika from the dangerous cliff, or else she would have joined him and Wren by now. Had they left and gone to Meese without them, presuming them dead and lost forever? No, that couldn't be true. Rika was still up there and she would figure out a way to save them. She would not give up on them.

"So what should we do now?" Chaz said to the general vicinity. He already had an idea of that, but he didn't like it. It was going to be awful.

Confirming his suspicions, Wren spoke. "The only thing that we can do is wait to be rescued. I have looked at our options carefully and we do not have much of a choice in the matter. We cannot scale back up the cliff side, not with our current damages and lack of equipment. The only other escape route is down, and it is precisely three thousand and eighty five feet to the bottom. My advice is to wait for the ice digger to find us."

"Is this snow worm hole abandoned?"

"Affirmative."

"Well I guess we can be grateful for that." Chaz sighed, his spirit sinking a bit. The last thing they needed was for an enormous snow worm to pop up out of hiding and then turn them into a late lunch. Especially one as big as that hole seemed wide. It must have been a colony queen, Chaz reasoned.

The warmth that he was leeching off Wren was removing the numbness and awakening the pain that Chaz was feeling in his wound and his broken wrist. It ached and stung at the same time. He regretted cutting himself open like that, but also wondered that if Rika had not let go would Chaz have kept his word? Would he have sliced his flesh open and splintered the bone just as he promised he would? The answer seemed to be yes and that left Chaz a little fearful, scared of himself. He touched the red bandage briefly and winced.

Noticing Chaz's grimace Wren apologized. "I am sorry. I cannot mend broken bones. I am not Demi, I have no medical training to speak of. It feels as though I have not done enough for you." The hunter shook his head and cast a Gires technique over the aching wound. His nerves immediately stopped their incessant painful twanging, at least for a little while. Rika was much better at the technique than he was, if she came then she might even be able to bond the broken bone together. Wren had tried to help. That was more than enough for Chaz.

It's difficult to keep up good conversation with somebody who has rarely talked casually with anybody in their life. Wren was not the easiest person to talk to, but he was there and if Chaz didn't talk he would get bored. If he got bored he would become tired, and if he got tired and fell asleep he might not wake up again. Raja had told him that once, seriously, when he had been educating the perplexed Motavian visitors about the dangers of the intense cold. He had to remember those words well. "Did you hear our radio broadcast?" The youth questioned, curious.

"Yes." Said Wren, blandly. "I could not answer. My input was functional but my output was damaged during the fall. All I could do was listen without replying. It was very frustrating." He went silent for a few moments, carefully thinking. Chaz shivered as a cool wind from the blizzard above bounced down into the crevasse. The hunter curled up into himself and folded his arms around his knees, shrinking against the sudden gust. Wren continued. "It sounded like you and Rika had been crying. Is that so?"

Chaz glanced away, embarrassed. He admitted it anyway. "Yeah…" He muttered.

"Do you still love her?"

"Yeah. Of course I do." The boy repeated, trembling. Even when he tried to force those trembles away with the power of his own mind it only resulted with his teeth beginning to chatter. Why would Wren ask such an obvious question anyway?

And why had Wren been expecting, no, _hoping_ for a different answer? That was not only unlike him but it was cruel too, and above that, incredibly selfish. He had an idea that traveling with so many palmans for such a long time was beginning to change him internally. It was a basic law that environmental factors altered the development of a person. Perhaps he too was not exempt from this law. The hunter was becoming a bad influence on him. That must be it.

Chaz's shivering was becoming much more noticeable. With his armor off all he had was one thin layer of clothing to keep his body protected from the cold. It was not enough. Without warning Wren reached over to Chaz's side and pried the youth's arms away from his knees, picking him up as if he were as light as a feather and pulling him into his own lap. There was nothing devious about this decision that Wren had made, he merely didn't want his friend to suffer excess discomfort, but he also had not thought about the implications of such an act. He wrapped his arms around Chaz's front and pressed the hunter against his chest. Wren closed his eyes and was prepared to wait out the cold.

And gods, the android was so warm! Excessively so, the opposite of his usual cool-to-cold metal touch. A thought came to Chaz that he had finally found a good use for Wren and he smiled. This was nothing more than a perfectly innocent hug. He could enjoy that. Chaz snuggled back against Wren's body and was pleased to find just how easily he fit into the embrace. It was perfect, somehow. "I was so afraid that I was going to lose you." Chaz said without thinking. "I felt like I would lose something to me that is as yet unfound. Were you afraid of death as you fell, Wren? I know I sure was."

Wren spoke softly and lowly into Chaz's ear. His breath tickled him a little as he talked, and Chaz found that he was still amused that Wren seemed to be able to breathe voluntarily whenever he wanted. Maybe it had become involuntary now, like he wasn't even thinking about it anymore. "I do not understand death, so I don't think I can be afraid of it. When I finally experience it I know I will have no need to understand it. What I was afraid of would be the lengths you would take to bring me back. I feared that I would cause a chain effect that would trap somebody else down here. It seems I was right to expect that." Chaz looked abashed. Wren had predicted how he was going to react so flawlessly. Did the android really know him _that_ well by now?

"Nevertheless," he continued steadily, "I am glad you came for me. I do not understand death but that does not mean I want to die. There is much in life that I have yet to accomplish. I will not die until Algo is restored to its proper order once more." He took Chaz's hand that was still rather cold and warmed it within two of his own. Chaz let him do this silently. This was really the first time that he head heard Wren talk about himself so avidly. It was interesting.

When Chaz's hand was sufficiently warmed Wren focussed his attention on the other one, carefully wringing out the chill. Chaz sighed. It felt so nice. He could almost forget about where he was, what had happened, and what they were going to do. What indeed _were_ they going to do? "I was wondering," Chaz said quietly, half-heartedly trying to keep up the conversation, "just how old are you?"

Wren looked thoughtful for a second. "I will be nine hundred and ninety nine next March." He announced.

"What?" Chaz jumped like he had been stung by a bee. He turned around and regarded the android with a look of incredulity on his face. He knew that Wren was old, but he hadn't expected him to be _that_ old. Chaz's bright green eyes were wide. "You're kidding me, right? You must be. That makes you," he did some quick mathematics in his head, "sixty two times older than me!"

His older friend seemed unruffled. He didn't age physically, so it was only a number to him. "Is that important?" He asked, then smiled a little. "Am I too old for you now?"

Realizing how silly he was acting Chaz smirked as well and slumped back down into Wren's arms. It was most definitely past midday now and it could be hours until their rescue. Chaz guessed that he didn't mind about that, as long as they weren't trapped down there until dark. The blizzard was cold in the daytime, but once Algo set it would become unlivable. Uninhabitable. Then he would die. Chaz hoped that Rika, Rune and Kyra would hurry up. "Hey Wren?"

"What is it?"

The youth laughed a little. "If I die down here and you survive, please tell Rune that he's a jerk for me. Then my spirit will be at peace." He could imagine that Rune was somewhere in the ice digger right now, being a smart-aleck as usual. If Chaz had known the truth about where Rune was right that very minute he would have quickly retracted his statement, but that would not be until much later.

"No, I will not do that. There is no need for me to do that because you will not die, Chaz Ashley. I will not let you die. I promise you." Wren lightly brushed his hand through Chaz's short blond hair. The youth was looking up at him, questioningly. He wasn't lying, that Chaz could see. Without Wren's warmth he probably _would_ die down here. Well, there was nothing better than sharing. Thank the gods that Wren was still alive.

Chaz crept up so that he was sitting in Wren's lap and leant forward, only inches away from his friend's face. He smiled happily and traced the dark tattoo-line down Wren's cheek with a fingertip. The hunter could practically _see_ the gigantic question mark that should have been hovering above Wren's head. He looked confused. That was so cute. "I really like you." Chaz intoned, then moved forward and kissed him.

He figured that as long as they were alone they might as well enjoy the time spent together. Kissing Wren when he was so warm was amazing, and he loved the way that the android would hold him, as if he were a delicate object that could break at any moment. Chaz knew that they had both agreed to take this relationship one step at a time, heck, they had said that no more than five hours ago, but it also felt like there was a force around the both of them, pushing them together. Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps it was dumb coincidence, but as long as he didn't mind and Wren didn't mind and the others didn't find out about it, all would be well.

As Chaz pulled away Wren blinked once, realizing what had happened and then grew flustered. Talk about an ironic role-reversal. "Chaz!" He exclaimed. "This is not the time or the place for-"

The hunter devoured Wren's next few words with his mouth. He would have been grinning if he had not been busy with the kissing thing. Chaz kind of liked being in control too, and Wren was usually too hesitant to stop him. The android kissed back anyway, even though he protested Chaz's actions. That was pretty damn hot. After a minute Wren pushed him away. "I really wish you would give me a chance to rep- mnnn…"

And then it seemed like Wren had finally given up the hope of completing a sentence at that point. He couldn't, not with Chaz's sweet interruptions. So much for Chaz being injured. Not even a broken bone could keep him down. In truth this was a relief for Chaz, an affirmation that he was still alive. He had not died in the fall, he could still kiss, and be held, and breathe and laugh and smile again. This was his own way to cope with the extract of tension that had built up and then tumbled away. Wren was a good person to see him in such a state and then care for him anyway. It made Chaz appreciate the android even more.

Their kiss broke and this time Wren didn't say anything at all. Chaz frowned, but this was a mock frown and his smile was still behind it. "Aw, you're not going to say anything else? That's a shame." Wren imitated a sigh and pushed Chaz down by his shoulder, forcing the boy to sit again. He did as he was bidden but leant against Wren's front, trying to find a comfortable spot. He was glad that Wren hadn't gotten annoyed and told him to go and find his own place to lie down. Something told him that they had a whole lot more waiting to do.

He knew that he was not supposed to fall asleep, that Raja had said he would be a dead man if he fell asleep in the snow, but after about half an hour of waiting Chaz drifted off all on his own. He wasn't really a patient person to begin with and he had not gotten much rest lately, not in the proper sense of the word. But as long as Wren kept him warm he didn't think that he was in any serious danger, and if anything were to happen his friend would wake him up again. Chaz's breathing grew deeper and his weight shifted a little, losing his conscious hold on the world around him. Chaz seemed content where he was so Wren let him be.

A few hours passed and Wren's damages steadily became worse. He could fight his growing desire to surrender himself to inactivity and he certainly did so as strongly as he could, but it would only be a matter of time until he couldn't resist it anymore. Of all the things that had become damaged during his fall down the cliff the most severely broken part had been the regulation of his heating system. Wren had unwittingly become Chaz's life support but he was also going to burn himself out. He was just thankful that Chaz had not known about it, or been worried about it. There was nothing that he could do.

He was desperately hoping for the arrival of the ice digger too. His damages were repairable, all he needed was a repair kit and a reliable pair of hands that knew what they were doing. Rika. Other than Demi, Rika was the only one that he felt he could trust with something as delicate as his inner workings. If she didn't come Chaz wasn't the only one that might be in trouble. It would be an ironic way for things to turn out, to survive a dangerous drop off a cliff only to have the cavalry come far too late.

About four hours after Chaz had fallen asleep Wren also finally lapsed into unconsciousness. He drooped down, his chin resting on the top of Chaz's head. This scene would have been outrageously touching if it had not been for the small tendrils of smoky steam, rising from the seams in Wren's armor in little grey wisps.

Chaz didn't seem to be bothered by them, deep in his sleep, unaware of the fact that Wren might be, could be, probably was… lost.


	12. Rescue

(A/N: The song 'Danny Boy' is an Old Irish folk song about love and loss. Although the song is meant to be sung by a young woman, it is actually more traditional for a man to sing the song. That's why I thought it would be perfect to use in a shonen-ai story. I did not write it, I'm merely borrowing it for use in this fic. If you're familiar with the song then you might notice that Chaz's version is slightly different to our own Earth version. I guess some things get lost in translation, or maybe Chaz just can't remember the verses right. :x)

There was a dull thumping running through Chaz Ashley's ears. It had a beat to it, a long rhythmic pounding that reminded the boy of his own slowing heartbeat. Thud, pause. Thud, pause. If he _was_ dying of hypothermia then that was what his heart would sound like. Chaz was still sleeping and could not properly scrutinize his own dream-thoughts, but he was curious about that sound. What _was_ that? He could only wake up and find out.

He opened his eyes. A couple of years ago he had caught an ear infection so bad that his ear canal had bled as openly as a wound, except that it had wept pus instead of blood. Not a very charming thing to think about as one wakes up, but the dull distant thudding that Chaz could hear reminded him of that constant, painful rush of blood and sound to his head. Gods, he felt so groggy and stiff. Chaz briefly felt a bit of a phantom pain in his ear, half thinking and half dreaming about that memory.

Chaz rose from where he was lying and carefully checked on Wren. He looked to be asleep, almost peaceful-like. This would have struck Chaz as odd usually, because Wren _didn't_ really sleep, but Chaz was only half aware of himself and was not thinking clearly. The hunter smiled at his friend but did not disturb him, clambering up onto his feet.

It was strange how innocent and handsome Wren would appear when he wasn't acting so boring and monotonous. There was so much potential in him, as the android had been beginning to show himself. Chaz wanted to be there when Wren first found something to laugh about, or something to cry over, if he could, or possibly figure out how to love and be loved in return. Silly thoughts. Romantic thoughts. Chaz's thoughts.

That would be nice. Chaz stretched, trying to flex all the stiffness away. He felt so cold and also so tired too, the rest he had taken earlier speeding up time but failing to restore his stamina. It was impossible to get a full and worthwhile sleep in the cold. He didn't know how the dezorians managed to do it. Chaz couldn't rub his arms briskly because his wrist hurt too much, and still there, not fading from his ears was the slow thudding of the dream.

It couldn't just be a dream if he heard it in his wakefulness too. Chaz looked around for the source of the sound but couldn't catch anything new, all he could see were the towering cliff walls of the tunnel, growing darker as the daylight began to fail. Geez, was it _that_ late already? They were running out of time.

He knelt and patted Wren gently against his face to wake him up. Chaz got no results worth mentioning. The android didn't seem to want to wake up. He smelt a little bit like burnt plastic and didn't even respond when Chaz cooed; "c'mon, get up, you're gonna be late for school," to him. There was no way to check if Wren was dead or not because he didn't have a heartbeat or a pulse. He had certainly stopped breathing though, that Chaz could see, but that didn't really mean anything at all. Had Wren died in his sleep while Chaz had been snoring away?

"No wonder you wouldn't tell me about your damages, you lying bastard." He hissed through gritted teeth as he removed his hand from Wren's neck. The warmth that had been present in his body for most of the day was long gone. It was a miracle that Chaz hadn't frozen to death himself. Except that Wren hadn't really frozen to death, Chaz told himself sternly, he was only frozen on the inside. That was repairable, he hoped. Just like when the ice digger was turned off for too long. There was no difference.

But Wren was more sophisticated than the ice digger, more delicate. Thinking about all this stuff was useless, it didn't help in any way. A particularly powerful thud rattled the foundation of the platform that Chaz was standing on. He felt the vibration in the very soles of his boots. What the hell could make such a racket? The answer smacked Chaz full in the face. His eyes filled with hope. He had been thinking about that thing only seconds ago. The ice digger!

Chaz abandoned Wren where he was for the time being and ran towards the edge of the platform, dropping to his knees and peering out over the cliff. A rush of anxiety hit him out of nowhere. The last time that he had been this close to a cliff edge the unthinkable had happened. This time there would be a… how deep was it, three thousand foot drop to the bottom. Chaz didn't feel safe anymore but he looked down anyway, cradling his hurt arm against his chest.

Flakes and slivers of ice were rattled off the side of the platform each time Chaz felt the consecutive vibrations of the impact below him. _Oh, please let it be a rescue, _Chaz prayed as hard as he could. _Please let it be Rune, Rika and Kyra in the digger. Wren's hurt, and I'm hurt and **I hate this place so much**…_

Part of the platform beneath him shattered. Chaz flopped stomach-down on the floor and held his hands over his head, waiting for something horrible to happen, like, say, the floor right under his body disappearing. The cliff was much tougher and thicker than that however and Chaz was safe. The front of the ice digger protruded from the hole it had made, the twin drills still spinning but slowing down with time. They were letting out a high-pitched whine that was augmented by the acoustics of the cavern. Only a couple more meters and the vehicle would overbalance and tip over into the pit.

When the sound died down Chaz heard somebody sneeze. The hunter peeked out over the edge again. There was somebody crouching on the roof of the ice digger, with something that looked like a walkie-talkie pressed to his ear. Chaz had never been so relieved to see Rune in his life. The esper was rubbing his temple like he had a headache and talking confidently into the mechanical contraption. He paused for half a moment, listening, then started talking again, leaning over to check the treads on one side of the digger. He was probably telling the driver to move back as they had come to a dead end.

"_Rune_!" Chaz cried, his voice echoing through the tunnel.

The magician looked up immediately and spotted Chaz's pale face peering from the upper cliff. He looked startled, but the he said something hasty into his radio and then put it down. Rune stood, cupped his gloved hands around his mouth and shouted back. "You little shit, we've been looking for you _everywhere_! Are you dead? How are ya?" His words were rather harsh, and Rune once again looked bugged by Chaz, but he was also relieved to see that the boy was healthy enough to shout.

"I don't think I can last out here much longer! It's too cold! Can you guys bring the digger up here or should I jump?" No, Chaz suddenly thought of Wren again. He couldn't leave the android out here by himself, damaged, while he got to safety. It wouldn't be right. Besides, judging from the distance between Chaz's ledge and the digger he'd probably break another bone by jumping. "Wren's here with me but he's not moving anymore! I think there's something wrong with him!" He added.

Chaz watched Rune relay all of this information to the people inside the ice digger. He was most likely talking to Rika. He wondered how the girl would have responded to the knowledge that he was still alive. Rune listened, nodded once, he was getting pretty handy with that radio Chaz reckoned, and then he put it away and got back into a crouch once more. "We're going to come up there! It should take about half an hour! In the meantime just do whatever you can to keep warm! Run around, go nuts, whatever! Just keep your body temperature up! See you in a while!"

The ice digger kicked itself into reverse. Chaz clung onto the ground again as the platform shook with its departure. Rune must have had a death wish to ride on the roof of the machine like that, but he guessed that must have been the only effective way to search for lost bodies. The youth shuddered and stood up again, backing away from the edge. He had to do what Rune had told him to do. He had to keep himself warm.

His muscles seemed to groan in protest to that thought. Chaz felt dog tired already. It would be like those times when he had done something seriously wrong, like stealing food even when they had plenty of it at home. Alys would double his training regiment and make Chaz train until he nearly dropped from exhaustion. It had been the tough love that had worked. Now he had to do the very same thing for himself. Punishment for slitting the Xe-A-Thoul's throat, maybe. But the reason didn't matter, he just needed to move.

He scanned his surroundings carefully, wondering how many laps of the platform he could make before his leg muscles thawed out. Only one way to find out. At least his armor wouldn't weigh him down. Chaz started to run and met ample resistance with his body at first, it hurt and the snow was kind of hard to run in, but then it started to slowly get easier. His throat felt a little raw from breathing in all that super cold air but he could ignore it, focussing only on the beating of his heart.

The faster it beat the more blood that was circulating throughout his body, and that meant more warmth. After ten minutes Chaz's body was tingling all over and that was good, for that meant he was gaining some feeling back once more. He thought of the ice digger burrowing through the ice beneath him like a giant steel behemoth-mole. Hopefully Rune had climbed inside again before Rika had started to drill. A piece of ice-shrapnel to the head would equal an instant lobotomy. Poor Rune. He sniggered a bit at the thought.

Chaz stopped and jogged on the spot for a couple of minutes. It was working, but he certainly hoped that he wouldn't have to fight any big bosses for awhile. He'd be too sore for that. The shadows were lengthening now, it was no longer daytime. He had entered into a dark kind of twilight that was curtained by the tall tunnel and Dezoris' storm. Chaz's breath came out in cloudy puffs around his face. He wished that he had somebody else to talk to. It was lonely here by himself.

Wren had not moved since Chaz had awoken. He could kind of see now why Raja had mistaken him for a life-sized doll when the dezorian had first met him. There wasn't really much of a difference now. The youth wondered when Wren was deactivated if he entered a state of consciousness that was akin to palman sleep, or if that part of him just ceased to exist, leaving only an empty shell behind. A temporary death. No wondered the android seemed to prefer staying up all night rather than having to go through that. "Wren… just another machine." Chaz said quietly, standing still.

There was another great pounding thud, this time coming from much closer by. The ice digger was trying to break though that final wall of ice. It also sort of sounded like Rika wasn't using the drills properly, like she was smashing rather than breaking. Still, she would be doing a far better job than anybody else considering she hadn't known how to drive it in the first place. Chaz felt vulnerable standing out in the open like that so he ran over to his unresponsive friend and crouched beside him, unsure whether he was using Wren as a shield or if he was getting close to him because it made him feel safer.

_Thud!_ That was all it took. The ice digger burst onto the scene. The sound was calamitous. Chaz was ashamed to discover that he cried out a little in fear of the sound. Actually, something that Chaz hadn't thought about was exactly _where_ the ice digger would choose to appear. It could have run both him and Wren over, but they had been pretty lucky as it had appeared far off to their left. Fragments of crushed ice fell off its hull as it vibrated and lulled to a stop. The drills slowed down too. Chaz smiled in relief and staggered back out into the open again. This was their rescue.

The door slid open and the digger's ramp extended from the hull. Rika was in the doorway but seemed too impatient for the ramp to straighten itself out. She jumped straight from the doorway instead. It didn't seem like Rika had any limit to her grace. She landed splendidly and hugged the blanket she was carrying in one arm to her side. It was baby blue and white with dezo penguin print, Rika's blanket that she had bought during their first visit to Zosa and could not be separated from it. "You're safe!" Chaz called out to her, feeling like he would tear up at any moment.

"Chaz." Rika said as she caught up to him, standing only a foot or two away from her leader. The numan girl didn't say anything else except for his name, and really that was enough. She gathered up her blanket and self-consciously wrapped it around the hunter, turning it into a funny looking cloak. The blanket was fluffy, soft and oh so warm. Chaz's attention was diverted from its warmth as Rika pressed herself up against his front, offering herself up for a hug. He wrapped his arms around her gladly. Gods, she must have been so worried. "Chaz." Rika repeated, but now she sounded happy.

"I'm fine. Really, I am." Chaz reassured her soothingly, trying to mind his broken wrist and hug her at the same time. When he had fallen he didn't think he'd ever be able to touch Rika again. He smiled and gently tightened his hold on her slender waist. "I'm so glad to be alive." He admitted honestly, smelling her bright pink hair. It smelt of travel, so many miles of travel, and a little hint of snow blossoms. Maybe this was the time to tell her how he felt.

He was about to open his mouth and do just that when somebody sneezed very loudly behind them. Sounded like Rune. The blue-haired Lutz seemed to be catching a cold. He appeared and Rika bashfully pulled away from Chaz, the barest traces of a blush on her face. Rune's damned sneeze had ruined the moment. That was just like the magician. He thumped Chaz hard on the shoulder and smirked at him. "I guess you're a lot tougher than I thought you were. Get into the ice digger, it's warmer in there."

"But what about Wren?" The young hunter protested, turning towards the deactivated android. Kyra was already standing over him and looking at him like he was a rare kind of specimen. Chaz was worried about his friend, but that offer of warmth was looking mighty fine right about now…

Kyra straightened up and showed the item she held to Chaz, grinning in an overly zealous way. "Don't fret, I already brought a repair kit out here. Rika can look at him while you're inside. I'm gonna help. You and Rune need to take it easy now." Kyra's eyes practically sparkled as she continued. "You should have seen how hard Rune worked to find you guys! He had to scout out and climb through new places before we could drill on. He was out in the cold for _hours_ on end! You should thank him."

Rune didn't seem too impressed at having his exploits repeated back to him. Perhaps experiencing it once was enough. Chaz would thank him later in private. The esper touched the boy on the shoulder lightly where he had previously thumped him. "C'mon, I'll make you some cocoa." He said.

Chaz looked a little stunned. Having Rune offer to do something like that for him was even less likely than falling in love with Wren. The only way Chaz could explain it was that it was Rune's way of saying he was glad to see that Chaz was not dead. But he had to decline that invitation. He was just too concerned about his friend. "I'm not going anywhere until I find out what's wrong with Wren." He announced, hating himself for sounded like so spoilt.

Rika was already beginning that task, opening up the repair kit that Kyra had handed to her. She looked at Chaz in a manner that melted his heart, lifting a strange tool out of the kit. "Please go with Rune. I'll come and get you as soon as I figure out what's wrong with him. Promise."

He could say no to Rune, but he couldn't say no to Rika. It was like a force prevented him. He could trust Wren with Rika anyway; she knew what she was doing. This wasn't the first time that Wren had broken down after all, it was just more severe than the other times and hit him closer to his heart. As time went by Wren just seemed to sneak nearer and nearer to the place in his heart where Rika needed to be. It was just like that old fairy tale from long ago, the one about the tortoise and the hare. It didn't take a genius to figure out who had become who.

The reverent Lutz took Chaz by the hand (thankfully the unbroken one) and started to pull him towards the ice digger. He was not going to hang out in the cold for one second longer. Chaz allowed himself to be pulled and led up the ramp into the blissful heat of the digger like an obedient child. Now he just wanted to sit down, drink something warm and then sleep forever. Rune's thoughts were pretty much the same. One thing was certain, there was no way in hell they were getting to Meese today.

He nearly tripped over the bird's nest that somebody had for some reason dragged inside the machine. It wasn't the entire nest, as that would have been too big to fit inside the doorway, but it was a sizable fragment of it just left lying on the floor. Rune said something about free kindling as he disappeared into the storage bunker to get the portable hot plate and ingredients for the cocoa. Chaz slumped down onto a seat and wrapped Rika's blanket more tightly about himself. It felt nice to forget about things and just have to others do everything for him. He was glad he had such great friends.

"I guess the question we're all asking ourselves is how the heck you managed to survive." Rune called out from the bunker room. The ice digger had a rather small interior so Rune didn't have to shout. There were a couple of minutes of silence that Chaz did not fill in so Rune elaborated a little. "Care to tell us how you did it?" He pressed.

Chaz was watching Kyra and Rika working on Wren from the side windscreen of the vehicle. It was dark, so he couldn't see much, but looked like they were carefully taking Wren apart from the inside. Whatever had broken in him was somewhere in his body, way down deep. Kyra was creating a bit of light for Rika to work under using one of her esper abilities. Chaz fancied that he would have liked to help them, but he also didn't want to move anymore. "Uh, I don't really know. I think I used a technique to stop myself from falling so fast. The rest is kind of blurry."

"Well yeah, I already assumed that. What I meant was how you survived in below freezing temperatures for five hours by yourself? I didn't think you Motavian palmans knew how to do that. _Dezorian_ palmans don't even know how to do that!" Rune reappeared with two steaming mugs of drink and handed one to Chaz. The chipped white enamel was hot to the touch. Chaz warmed his hands on it gratefully. The magician sat down beside the boy. "You got a tech none of us know about yet?"

The youth looked down into his drink and blushed a bit. They had all saved each other's lives countless times but what the android had done for him was different to those rescues in combat. It was more personal to him and he couldn't tell Rune about it. The esper just wouldn't understand, but he had to give some kind of excuse for his survival. "Wren saved me. He treated my wound and wouldn't let the cold get to me. I still kind of broke my wrist though. When he stopped working I just had to fend for myself. Then you guys came along." He had to omit and distort some details, but overall the explanation sounded pretty good.

Rune had a short, private moment of thought. He didn't know whether to tell Chaz about his great importance to Algo yet. He knew that when the time was right he should tell him everything, but was this the right time? No, it didn't really feel like it, but Rune had to tell Chaz _something_ to remind him of his leadership. Pointing the boy in the right direction was a tiring task, he wondered how Alys had done it so well. "You're not supposed to die here. Keep surviving and fighting, because this party needs its leader and that happens to be you."

Taking a sip of his drink Chaz looked amused. It wasn't often that Rune talked to him without being mean at some point. "Why me?" He asked. "Why does it have to be me? Why am I the leader?"

The Lutz reached over and poked Chaz on his silly little button nose. "Because you're the only swordsman we have, that's why!" He announced with an arrogant smirk. Chaz looked surprised then shoved Rune's arm away, annoyed. He totally forgot about his hurt wrist and gasped sharply as he used it. Pain erupted from the bone anew. The hunter shot Rune a filthy look that did not harm the esper at all.

The door of the digger opened and Kyra popped her head inside. She appeared to be pretty cheerful, noticing Rune's smug face and Chaz's withering expression that was directed at him. "We've figured out what's wrong with Wren. Rika says he's fixable, but I need a torch or something because I can't keep conjuring light forever. We also need that kindling, somebody who can cast a good foi technique and some spare blankets." The girl now seemed apologetic. "Rune? I know you're supposed to be resting but can we borrow you for a bit?"

She got a groan as a reply but Rune got up anyway, putting his drink to the side. An esper's work was never done. Chaz was just glad to know that Wren was going to be okay again. He stood up too, wanting to help as well. The two espers moved closer together and bent to pick up the kindling, moving it outside. Chaz couldn't help them with that but he could at least go and find those extra blankets. He went to the storage bunker and edged around the mess Rune had made while preparing the drinks, searching single-handedly until he found some decent-looking blankets packed away behind some cases of dried rations.

Chaz crammed them under one arm and took a torch from off the top of the tool shelf. He had to stretch pretty far to reach it. When he turned the torch on with the flick of his thumb the light didn't come on, but the batteries had only recently been charged so he knew that the tool was not out of power. He tapped it against the side of his leg a couple of times and the light clicked on faithfully. Satisfied, Chaz crept out of the warm ice digger and went back into the cold again.

It was a physical shock to feel the temperature drop so suddenly. He descended down the ramp to the ground and walked towards the place where he had left Wren earlier. Rika was putting him back together again while Kyra and Rune bickered over the best place to leave the kindling. For a moment Chaz felt like a stranger walking into the midst of some crucial operation. He shined the torch in Rika's general vicinity, hoping to give her some light to work by. "So what's wrong with him?" Chaz asked softly, remarking to himself how the torchlight and the shadows made Rika look wiser, and stronger.

Rika spoke like a professional surgeon, or like a mechanic who was about to hit Chaz with a hefty bill. "I think the fall disconnected his regulator from his heating system. Without it the system ran unchecked and eventually burned itself out. The regulator just had to be reattached but the parts that got wrecked had to be replaced. Luckily the repair kit had spares of those parts in it." The numan girl turned to him and smiled, but then held a hand over her eyes as Chaz was shining the torch right at her. The youth pointed the beam of light at the ground and Rika relaxed.

"So he'll just wake up by himself now?" Chaz looked hopeful.

It was strange how Chaz seemed to have more life in his body when it came to the subject of Wren. He was looking a little healthier now that he had spent a bit of time in the ice digger with Rune. The girl held up a chunk of charred metal that she had removed from the android's body, like it was the thorn that had been plucked from the lion's paw. "Well, yes and no. Without his heating system working for so long in such a low temperature Wren has sort of frozen up. We have to thaw him out so he'll awaken and activate his renewed system on his own. That's what the blankets and kindling are for."

The two espers in the background appeared to have compromised on a location for a fire. Rune raised his hand and threw a foi technique into the kindling, the mass of twigs and dried leaves immediately bursting into flames. Rika pressed the back of her hand to Wren's forehead as if she were checking his temperature. She probably was. Chaz admired her then for her resourcefulness, for driving the digger on her own and repairing Wren's broken body. "You're very smart, Rika." He stated with respect.

In the shadows Chaz did not see Rika blush. She had been praised by many people but with Chaz it was… special. "That's enough." She demurred, self-conscious. "You brought some blankets, didn't you? Spread them over Wren so he'll stay warm. Then we should all go into the digger where it is safe."

Taking the blankets out from under his hurt arm Chaz accidentally dropped one while he fumbled with the other. Simple tasks were a dozen times harder to accomplish with only one workable hand. Rika saw the pain that Chaz was experiencing and rose, walking over to her friend. As gently as she could she took Chaz's broken wrist. It looked inflamed and very swollen. The numan didn't even need an X-ray to see how the bone had broken. "Rika…" Chaz whispered as he allowed the girl to tenderly touch the injury.

She used her gires technique on the wound. It felt like Rika had gotten even better at using that ability since last she had treated him. Warmth flared up in his wrist for one breathtaking moment and there was a brief sparkle of light. Chaz experienced a bizarre _bonding_ sensation inside his wrist, all the pain draining away. The swelling and the inflammation had yet to fade but that didn't matter; the bone had mended. Chaz smiled widely and twisted his wrist in nearly a full circle. There was barely any pain. "Thank you!" He cried with all the gratitude he could muster.

Smiling prettily Rika only knelt and picked up the blanket Chaz had dropped. It was a dull green, standard army issue by the looks of it. She straightened the cloth out and draped it over Wren's immobile body. Chaz followed her example with the one that he also was holding. He could make a silly joke about having to tuck the big android into bed at night but Chaz yawned instead. It was contagious, Rune ended up yawning too. Kyra was practically leaning against the Lutz because she was so tired, her previous energy spent.

Rika gazed at the three professional warriors who were looking about as threatening as a trio of six year olds trying to stay up past their bedtime. The sun had barely set but these guys looked done-in for the night.

She led them, like the sleepyheads they were, back to the ice digger.

xxx

Life wasn't fair. The most horrible twist of fate for that entire day occurred not long after Chaz had found himself safe and sound. When everybody had finally retired for the night and had stumbled off to their own respective bunkers, Chaz found that he couldn't sleep.

He had hunkered down on one of the two long blue couches in the bridge area, all wrapped up in Rika's dezo penguin print blanket. It was great to lie there surrounded by something that smelt so much like the woman that he loved, but he still couldn't sleep. It was enough to want to make Chaz cry out of frustration. He had been tossing and turning for hours, listening to his friends snoring in the other rooms. The swelling in his wrist had gone down a lot but Chaz didn't care about that. He just wanted to sleep, to enter the calm oblivion that would grant him the next day.

He recognized the symptoms. This was exactly the way he had felt last night while waiting for Wren to come back to the inn. Maybe a part of him was too worried about the android outside and unconscious by the fire to sleep. Damn that infuriating Wren, and damn his own subconscious for thinking in that way. _Well,_ he thought to himself as he sat up and ran a hand through his messy blond hair, _so much for me sleeping tonight._

Chaz stood and stretched, rolling his shoulders to work the tension out of them. He picked up Rika's blanket and walked through the dim interior of the vehicle to her bunker, not bothering to knock. He may not have been able to sleep but that did not mean he was a hundred percent awake either. He was not quite sure _what_ he would see in there, all that had occurred to him was that he should return the blanket he had borrowed from her. She would be sleeping without one.

He eased the door open and a small slitted window from Rika's bunker shed a little light within the shadowed room. The girl had not become used to sleeping in a hammock like the rest of them and had adapted herself to sleeping on the floor instead. She was curled up on a thin foam mattress like a cat, using her hands as a pillow. Rika was wearing purple flannel pajamas. They looked so adorable on her. She was beautiful.

Instead of fawning over her like Chaz would have done a week ago the boy tiptoed over to her quietly and got down on his knees, carefully covering her with the blanket he had borrowed. Even inside the digger it still was a little too cold to sleep without one. Rika sighed and rolled over unexpectedly, some of her bright pink hair fanning out around her face. She didn't stir any more than that. Chaz was tempted to give her a tiny kiss goodnight but decided against it. If she woke up while he was kissing her there would be no way for him to explain it, other than the truth, that he loved her. He just couldn't say that to her face.

He had better leave before she woke up anyway. Chaz was done here for the night. Without making a sound he sneaked out and closed the door behind him, chancing one last peek before he did so. It was a shame that Rika didn't sleep in the nude, but Chaz turned bright red for even thinking such a thing. It was impractical anyway, Dezoris was too cold. On Motavia, however…

Chaz was already walking back to the bridge. He didn't know what he was going to do with the rest of the night but the hind part of his mind had already figured that out for him. Like a sleepwalker Chaz went to the doorway of the vehicle and opened it with a touch of his fingertips to the control panel. The ramp extended out and a rush of cold air swept into the ice digger, but Chaz had slipped out already with the speed and stealth of a thief on duty, closing the door as fast as he could. All was darkness around him, save for a little patch of light up ahead that was forged by a burning fire. The gulf between Chaz and the light seemed infinite.

He raised the torch that he had brought with him and turned it on. This time it didn't require any rattling to make the light appear. Chaz used it to navigate down the steps of the ramp and then through the cold clinging snow on the ground. It was so chilly, but that didn't stop Chaz from reaching his destination. Wren. The silly android that he cared about too much to let him rest.

Wren still looked asleep. There wasn't any way for Chaz to tell how much progress had been made in the thawing-out process apart from finding some way to get inside him. Chaz's heart softened as he gazed upon his friend. It was like he couldn't remain angry or annoyed around him anymore. It was the same when he was around Rika. Chaz clicked his torch off. The light and warmth from the fire was enough for him. "Hi Wren, can I sleep with you tonight? I'll take your silence for a yes."

And he got what he was expecting, silence. Chaz grinned and tossed his torch to the side. The young hunter moved towards his friend and crawled under the blankets with him, a little surprised at how warm it was under there. He was trying to find the comfortable spot he had snuggled with Wren earlier in the day and eventually he found it, much to Chaz's delight. He supposed that it was stupid to want to find comfort with a person who wasn't really a person at all, but as long as Wren made Chaz feel better who really cared about that?

Besides, he was paying Wren back for the warmth that he had given the youth previously. It had saved Chaz's life and now Wren needed the very same thing to get his own life back. Chaz wasn't necessary for this to happen but it would speed the process up quite a bit. He pressed his head against Wren's chest plate and sung himself a song to help him sleep. Now that he had no parents and no mentors to do it for him he had to sing to himself.

"_Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling,  
from glen to glen, and down the mountain side  
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling,  
'tis you must go, 'tis you must go and I must bide._

_But come ye back when summer's in the meadow,  
or when the valley's hushed and white with snow  
'Tis I'll be there in sunshine or in shadow,  
oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so._

_But if you come, and all the flowers are dying,  
if I am dead, as dead I might well be  
you'll come and find the place where I am lying,  
and kneel and say an 'Ave' there for me._

_And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,  
and my grave shall warm and sweeter be  
If you will bend and tell me that you love me,  
then I will sleep in peace until you come to me._"

Maybe his mother had sung it to him long ago. Chaz didn't even remember where he had first heard it, but it calmed his fears and helped him to sleep better at night, almost like a charm against the darkness and its fears. He had taught it to Alys when he was a child and she had sung it to him sometimes, in that low and strong voice that she had. This tune, it was all that he had left from his past. Chaz relaxed, on the very verge of sleep.

"I like that song." Wren said.

Chaz looked up. Wren was smiling down at him. It was one of those special smiles that made Chaz wonder if there was something more to Wren than what met the eye. He put his hand on Chaz's shoulder as the boy was about to speak and hushed him. "Shh. Go to sleep. You look exhausted. We can speak in the morning."

Suddenly Chaz felt like crying. Out of relief, but also out of Wren's kindness to let the boy stay with him. He nodded one short 'yeah' and rested against his friend again, closing his eyes.

Less than five minutes later the both of them were asleep.


	13. Back On Track

It was daylight before Chaz knew it. The boy sat up and rubbed at his eyes, finding himself spread out on one of the long couches in the ice digger, slightly slipping off it as his right leg dangled off the side and was touching the cool floor. The bridge was pretty active right now, Kyra wandering about the place and stretching while Rune had just returned from a call of nature. Rika was singing sweetly from her small room. He was surprised that he hadn't woken up earlier from the bustle alone.

But wait, hadn't he fallen asleep outside, with Wren? Or had that been one of his strange lurid dreams? That was funny, because it had felt so real, especially the feeling of contentment in knowing that his friend was alive and well. Chaz yawned, snuggling into the blankets wrapped around him once more. They were not pale blue with penguin print, rather they were a dull bland army-colour green. Wren must have picked him up at some point in the night and had carried him back into the ice digger, putting him to bed here. He smiled and deeply inhaled the smell of the cloth. It had not been a dream after all.

Chaz sneezed. At first he thought it was because the blankets had been a little dusty from being in storage, but then he realised that he could barely breathe through his nose. He remembered Rune from yesterday and noticing how the esper had seemed to be on the verge of a cold. Chaz had joined in along with him. That rat bastard must have passed it along to him when they had talked over their mugs of cocoa. The hours spent in the freezing temperatures mustn't have helped either. He groaned and pulled the blankets up over his face. A cold. Just wonderful.

He was cheered up a bit when he heard Rune sneeze loudly as well, then curse out of annoyance. Chaz didn't have to suffer alone, but this meant that two people of their five member party were sick. That would cut their effectiveness down largely in battle. Imagine if Rune cast a tandle spell in combat and then went into a sneezing fit right at the height of his incantation? Actually, that might be kind of funny, provided Chaz was a safe distance away. The boy rolled off the bed and stood, his head and sinuses all clogged up and foggy. He felt pretty well rested though, despite the sickness.

His clothes were ripped and ruined. It seemed to him that he had been wearing the same red bodysuit forever. Chaz glanced at the bandaged wound on his arm and tugged at the dressing with his free hand, pulling the bloody dimate-soaked material away. There was a raw red mark on his arm where the cut had been, it had bonded together nicely without the need of stitches. He just had to take it easy on his arm for a few days more, then he'd have another scar to add to his slowly growing repertoire. At the rate he was gaining them he'd be a marked man soon enough.

He knew he couldn't get a shower right about now, but Chaz thought he could settle for the next best thing and change into some much fresher clothing. The boy hauled himself to his bunker while rubbing his poor foggy head, sniffling at the same time. He dragged the green blankets along behind him, like a silly bridal train. Chaz shared his sleeping quarters with Rune but he had already gotten used to the magician as a roommate long ago, so he didn't feel very exposed as he changed into his other set of clothes while the esper's back was turned.

Rune sneezed again just as Chaz was zipping up his shirt. The hunter smiled and turned around again. Rune practically had a handkerchief crammed up his nose. He didn't look very impressed, especially when Chaz giggled at him. "You gave me a cold." He accused tonelessly, or he tried to but his words got all stuffed-up, turning it into; 'You gabe be a code.'

Chaz shook his head, trying to fix his messy hair. He kind of felt like arguing with him, but didn't want to take the argument seriously. "Uh uh. You gave _me_ a cold when you handed me that drink last night. You're one great big germ factory." He retaliated, hearing that his own voice was no clearer than Rune's was. Chaz sneezed one more time, involuntarily lending weight to his rebuttal.

The esper huffed dramatically. "I only got this cold because I spent hours and hours out in the damned glacier trying to find your sorry excuse for a body. Stupid you and stupid Wren. Both of you did this to me."

The hunter let go of his firm grip on the argument. He checked himself over to make sure that he looked okay and then smiled brightly to Rune, like a ray of sunshine cutting through both of their illnesses. Rune was reminded of Kyra's words from the day before. Chaz looked like a boy in love. "I'm sorry about that, but thanks for saving us. I know I can always count on you for help. Beneath your nasty arrogant exterior beats the shriveled up heart of a two thousand year old man." The youth laughed as Rune appeared shocked to him. "Say, do you know where I can find Wren?"

Rune ground his teeth and then threw a pillow at Chaz. If there was one thing that he hated it was being called old. He was not freaking old! "You damned brat, go and find him yourself if you're gonna be disrespectful!"

"Disrespectful? To my elders?" Chaz ventured mischievously.

He managed to get out of the room just in time, before Rune could incinerate him with an efess spell. He skipped merrily down the corridor as Rune raved behind him. He could forget all about the cold, he just felt too good mentally to care. He was alive and with his friends again. Rika popped her head outside the entrance of her bunker like a tentative rabbit, wondering what was going on. She still had a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth. Chaz ran into the bridge and made a sharp right, about to go outside and back into the tunnel again. He disliked the place after all that had transpired there but he needed some fresh air.

Chaz hopped down the ramp a little too quickly than he was supposed to and missed his footing somewhere near the bottom, tumbling over and flopping into the snow. Chill rushed into his front all at once and his natural high came to a temporary halt. That was klutzy of him, but it served him right for running about like a hyperactive child.

"You are so clumsy, Chaz." Wren stated right in front of him. He had crouched down so he could speak to Chaz more levelly. The boy 'hmphed' and struggled to get up again, but accepted Wren's hand as his friend helped to pull him up to his feet. He was carrying the ice digger's toolkit with him so he must have finished making some repairs on the engine. Wren looked completely normal, all better again. Well… actually, that might not be true. Wren actually looked cheerful without an incentive for him to be so, which was definitely not normal.

But Wren was cute when he was cheerful, so it was okay. Chaz brushed some clinging snow away and then openly hugged his friend. He was beginning to not care whether the others saw him or not. What was the worst that could happen? He wondered to himself why he had been so uptight about it in the earlier days. "I'm so glad you're okay. Don't ever do anything like that again. It really scared me." Chaz admitted, letting go of him.

"I'm sorry." Wren said truthfully, then grimaced as if he were in slight pain. The new parts that Rika had installed in him worked well but he was not quite used to them yet, which caused Wren to experience severe hot or cold flushes that were very irritating. They would be gone in a few days as his body became acclimatized to using the new parts, but until then Wren felt rather ill. Rune had mentioned something about him developing menopause and Wren had been tempted to hit the esper. He had not found that rather funny, even if Rune did.

Chaz suddenly grew very excited. Wren had actually sounded palman. "Hey! You said you were sorry! Not; 'my apologies', or; 'please forgive me', you actually said you were sorry!"

Wren blinked once and checked his backlog of actions. Oh, he supposed that he had. Why was Chaz so excited over that? "I'm sorry?" He said again, not because he was apologizing but because he didn't know what Chaz was so adamant about. Repeating what he had said just seemed to make Chaz's grin wider. "We're leaving soon. We will be in Meese by midday if my calculations are correct." Wren added, trying to alter the subject.

Turning around and walking back up the ramp, being careful of where he put his feet, Chaz chuckled. "We're going to go and see the old man again. He'd better not be dead and we made this trip for nothing. I hope the espers at Meese have something I could take for this cold." The android didn't say anything. He was glad that their journey was getting back on track again. The sooner they could get to the Garuberk tower the better.

But for the first time, and this was truly the first time that Wren had thought of it in this manner, he realised that the sooner their mission was accomplished and Algo saved from the darkness forever, the sooner that Wren would have to say goodbye to his friends. Would have to say goodbye to Chaz. Some of Wren's good mood ebbed away. It wouldn't happen for awhile, but it was bound to happen someday. He did not clearly understand how he felt about that.

Two hours later they were back en-route to Meese. Navigating through the glacier had been much easier the second time around, as many of the tunnels that Rika had drilled through had not collapsed yet. The numan girl stayed by Wren's side and gave him useful directions anyway. Almost everybody cheered when they broke through the surface and saw the sky once more. The beautiful Dezorian sky. It was dark, cloudy and angry but it was still a welcome sight to behold.

Any obstructions they found from now on the ice digger just ran straight over it.

Suffice to say there were no more unexpected stops along the way to Meese.

xxx

"Mr. Su Raja?"

The priest looked up from the small book that he was reading. One of the nurses had given it to him earlier to stop him from complaining that he was bored so much. It was a book of short trashy romance stories that seemed to appeal to young women nowadays. It was certainly not the kind of material one should give to a priest to read, but with Raja unable to leave his bed he had been desperate. "Yeah?" He said, diverting his attention from the pages.

The green-haired esper standing in the doorframe regarded the dezorian with a doctor's eye. Raja held a great resistance to the black energy wave within his body, which probably had a lot to do with his position as a priest, but nobody could be totally immune to its effects. The wave was still eating away and corroding his body from the inside out. Raja was having a rather lucid day today, but as time passed days like that were growing further and further apart. "You have some visitors. Should I let them in?"

Raja livened up a little. There was only one group of people who would be able to visit him on this side of the walls of ice. He straightened himself up and tried to put his book on the bedside table, but it slipped and fell off the edge, tumbling spine-up on the floor. The esper caretaker stepped aside as Raja began to shout. "Come in if you're beautiful!" He crowed, then laughed as Rika stepped through the threshold first. Yes, she certainly was beautiful, for a horned girl. Kyra and the other three men followed right behind her.

"Raja! You're still here!" Rika cried, immediately zipping to his bedside. She fired off several questions about how he was feeling and how the black energy wave was affecting the rest of the people in the clinic. Kyra had her arms around the green-haired esper and was called him 'Eugene' over and over again, shaking him like a rag doll. He was allowing it as if he were afraid of what would happen if he didn't. Chaz, Rune and Wren just stood there awkwardly, unsure of what they should be doing. They couldn't just throw themselves into the situation as easily as the girls could.

The dezorian priest looked over Rika's shoulder as the girl was hugging him, studying the loitering members of his old party. "You guys look well. Maybe you should all be in bed instead of me." He said jokingly, seeing that they didn't look well at all. Chaz had a runny nose and Rune had a fierce headache, rubbing at his temple slightly. Wren was in the middle of a hot flush and didn't seem to be paying attention to anything at all. Just looking at them made Raja feel moderately healthier. "Did something happen?"

Kyra stopped tormenting her old friend and told Raja all about what had happened in the Air Castle, including their recent escapade in the middle of the glacier. She was a notably good storyteller, along with her evocative words she found herself acting out the story in several places, turning it into more of a stage performance rather than a simple tale. Raja thought that it was fantastic, he hadn't been _this_ entertained in weeks.

He clapped when Kyra's story came to an end. "Bravo! I can't believe you went to all this trouble just to see me. It was probably better that you were delayed a day though, as I wasn't exactly at my best yesterday." The dezorian grew serious. On Raja seriousness was even more, well, serious. "But you know you shouldn't be wasting your time on me. I appreciate it, but stop it. Spend it all on tearing the Garuberk tower down! That'll sure as hell make me happy!"

It seemed like Raja had used up far to much energy making that vehement exclamation, or maybe the tower itself had heard his words and struck back accordingly, for immediately after that Raja began to cough loudly and wildly, doubled over in pain. Eugene ran out into the hall and yelled; "Johari! Nohari! Get in here quick!"

In only a couple of second two long-haired blonde nurses rushed into the room and pushed Rika away from the bed, trying to calm Raja's coughs. He was coughing so hard that he couldn't breathe properly. Rika looked on in horror as Raja hacked up a dark, foul tar-like substance and then flopped back against the pillow, wheezing heavily.

A physical extract of the black energy wave. Raja was nowhere near as healthy as he first seemed to be. One of the nurses took a cloth and gently began to wipe the evil gunk from the priest's mouth and clothes. The other nurse stared at the entourage of guests professionally. "I think you all had better go. Your presence here agitates him and the corruption in his body. Visiting hours are now over. Eugene, could you show them out, please?"

Rika didn't want to go, but she could also see why they needed to. Raja probably wouldn't be very good company after a turn like that. She would pick some snowflowers for him, in the hopes that it might make him feel better. The adventuring party was practically frog-marched downstairs and into the lobby by the caretaking esper, and Kyra managed to score one quick kick to his shin before he limped a safe distance away.

Okay, so maybe the journey had been a bit of a flop. But they had seen that Raja was still alive and capable of shouting, so that was a plus. The second infiltration of the Air Castle was on their minds and they wanted to get on with that quickly, but it would be prudent of them to wait just a little while for Rune and Chaz to be properly combat-worthy again. On the lower floor one of the nurse espers had taken a look at them and prescribed one full day of bed rest for each of them. Unfortunately there were no spare beds left in the clinic for something as minor as colds, so the two men were shipped off to the inn.

Kyra had announced that she had a lot of catching up to do with her friends at the clinic and decided to remain there, for now. She went off with the esper named Eugene, arm in arm as if the shin kick had meant nothing at all, jabbering on like an excited rappy. Rune had definitely not been too happy about that. As for Rika, she just wanted to make sure that Raja was okay, but she couldn't do that with the two nurses watching over him. Instead, she invited Wren to go on a walk with her in the Dezoris fields so she could gather up some blossoms to give to Raja as a present. Wren had accepted, having nothing better to do and knowing that the lower temperatures of the outdoors would be better for his newly-replaced system.

But Rika needed an hour to freshen herself up and take a good long bath at the inn, so this left Wren with about sixty minutes of nothing to do. He stood outside the entrance of the inn, watching some small palman children running around, playing and dressed in thick heavy furs. It must be nice not having anything to worry about, Wren thought. He checked his inventory, discovering that he still had some money left over from the guild mission he and the others had undertaken in Monsen. When they completed a job the reward money was usually split five ways. Wren didn't really have a use for meseta but it was useful to be able to hands over money when somebody else needed it.

There wasn't anything essential that he needed to buy, but there was one thing that he could think of. He wasn't sure if it was available in this town or not but that didn't matter to him, as he had enough spare time to find out. Wren turned and walked toward the item store, mindfully keeping out of the way of the children. He didn't know what was wrong with him or why he was now thinking in this way, yet there was no reason to resist it. He hoped that this new pattern of thinking would make him a better person, as Roland and Valos had hinted to him within the Ryuon pub.

There was no reason not to try.

xxx

Chaz didn't want to go back to sleep again. He had been doing far too much of that lately and he didn't want to become lazy. Despite this there was absolutely nothing else that he could do in his inn room without waking Rune, who had fallen into a sick slumber on his side of the room. Nothing else but stare at the ceiling, that was. Boy it was an uninteresting ceiling. Watching paint dry would be more fun than this.

Not to mention that Chaz was also sick. His sinuses were so clogged that he could barely breathe through his nose. It was a lot better when he was sitting up in bed, but as soon as he lay down again breathing became difficult. It was hard to sleep when somebody was inflicted with _that_. He had used up half a box of tissues, the wastepaper basket by his bed nearly full up. Chaz sighed. He hated colds.

Even though resting seemed positively impossible Chaz thought that he did drift off into sleep or advanced cases of boredom-induced comas, because time began to creep by in fits and starts. Sometimes Rune had his eyes closed and sometimes he was sitting up and reading a book, one that Chaz couldn't understand the title of as it had been written in the esper's native language. Maybe he should have brought something to preoccupy his time as well, but all the stuff that Chaz did for a hobby involved sword fighting.

Resting back against his pillow Chaz allowed himself a selfish thought and wished that Rika could be here for him right now, to kindly nurse him back to health. He had had similar fantasies about that before, although he felt bad for them, as Rika was his friend and not some kind of faceless woman he could undress with his eyes and then cram into a nurse's outfit with his mind. But it would be good, he reckoned, to have her care for him like that…

Chaz suddenly felt another sneeze coming on and sat up in bed, dazed and groping for the box of tissues that he knew was nearby. His hand touched some unfamiliar paper then found what he was looking for, grabbing as tissue and sneezing, blowing his nose. "Gods damn, this is hell…" He moaned softly, turning to see what that other bit of paper had been. He didn't think it had been there earlier.

Somebody had left a small paper bag and a glass of water on his bedside table at some point when Chaz had been sleeping. It looked nondescript, he couldn't tell where it had come from, but maybe it was a get-well present from one of his friends. The hunter picked it up and opened the bag, shaking out a plastic capsule filled with small white pills, directions on how to take them plastered on the side of the container in a pharmacist's scrawl. A neatly-folded piece of paper fluttered out of the bag as well. Medicine?

He checked the label of the capsule. It was called some incredibly long name that he wouldn't be able to pronounce even if he wanted to. The only thing left was the piece of paper. He unfolded it carefully, like it might rip if he didn't.

_The chemist said that this medicine will help to suppress some of the symptoms of your illness.  
Give some to Rune too if you do not think he is a jerk._

_Please recover soon, Chaz._

Could this be the kindness that he had hoped to receive from Rika? He inspected the handwriting carefully. It was near-perfect print and it almost looked like computer font. Rika's handwriting was more calligraphic, freer. And of course that jerk remark made it pretty obvious who had written the note, even if it was left unsigned.

Wren had quietly brought him some medicine while had had slept. That was rather sweet of him. Chaz knew that Wren liked him in a strange sense that only the android could possibly understand, but he hadn't expected that it would extend to acts of kindness such as this. It meant that he still worried and thought about him even when Chaz wasn't there to be worried about.

Chaz smiled and popped the lid off the capsule containing the pills. There was more than enough here for both himself _and_ Rune. He'd toss him the capsule once the magician woke up again. For now he was just eager to make his damned cold go away, if only for a little while. Chaz hated pills, they were evil and foul-tasting when he was forced to chew them, but he thought he'd forget about it just this one time.

After all, it wasn't flowers, or candy, or any other stupid cliché present, but it was still a meaningful, thoughtful gift from his significant other.


	14. Lovesickness II

(A/N: The book that Rune is reading in this chapter actually exists. It was orginally written in french, then translated into english by Arthur Waite. It is a great read that I recommend to anybody interested in magic and the like. Also, the song that Rika and Wren sing together is called 'If I Had Words', and it was written by a group called Westlife. I like that song, so I put it in the fic. I don't profess to own it. :3)

Wren had been as quiet as a ghost when he had slipped into Chaz and Rune's inn room without so much as a sound. The door did not even creak open, but if it had nobody would hear. Both the palmans seemed to be sleeping. He had brought some strong and albeit expensive medication with him, and you wouldn't have believed the strange look he had gotten from the pharmacist when Wren had just walked in from the street and asked for a cure for the common cold.

It had taken about five minutes for the storekeeper to explain to Wren that there _was_ no cure for the common cold, and that the only things that would make his friend well again were time and gentle rest. He had filled out a different prescription for Wren anyway, giving him some tablets that might offer Chaz some brief respite from his illness. The android accepted the medicine gratefully and wound up overpaying the pharmacist, but Wren had already left the establishment by the time that the shopkeeper had counted all the meseta handed to him.

A room full of sick people always seemed to have a different air to it when compared to anything else. It was thicker, heavier and more humid. The shutters were drawn and slivers of light managed to creep through the cracks, cutting like a scalpel through the dimness of the room. The silence was mostly unbroken though, the day-to-day sounds of the town of Meese muffled and vague, as if they were coming from a different world. Talking, some laughter, and the ringing of a bell. Wren pulled the door to behind him and felt like he probably wasn't welcome here, or that he had no real justification to be here at all.

But he _did_ have a reason to be there, so he need not think such things. Wren crept to Chaz's bedside and placed the boy's medicine on the table. Once he woke up and decided to take it he would begin to feel much better, both Chaz _and_ Wren. The hunter was in bed and seemed to be sleeping restlessly, his cheeks flushed and just the tiniest expression of discomfort on his face. His breathing didn't sound completely right, either.

And Chaz had managed to kick most of his blankets off. He wouldn't get any better if he remained cold, so Wren made some small rearrangements without waking the boy until he was nicely covered up again. Chaz's forehead felt unnaturally hot, well, above the thirty eight Celsius that was supposed to be 'normal'. Wren smiled a little. Looks like he was not the only one going through strange temperature changes.

He was sure that he had forgotten something. What was it? Water, Chaz would need some water to go with his medication. Wren left the room momentarily to retrieve a glass of water from the kitchen and in the minute or three that he was gone Rune turned over and woke up, immediately regretting waking up because he still felt like shit. All he wanted to do was get up and walk off his cold, but he knew that he was pretty much trapped here until the others deemed him healthy and fit again.

Rune was contemplating sitting up and finishing his Eliphas Levi's 'History of Magic' book when Wren entered the room again. The esper immediately went totally still, a bit of a primordial reflex action when one is sick and a predator comes into the area. Mostly it was because when Rune had been a child and faked sickness to get out of his studies his teacher would come in sometimes to check on him, and so he had learned to mime sleep almost perfectly. It must have been a pretty good imitation, for Wren had not noticed that Rune had moved slightly. He was focussing on Chaz, not the sick magician.

From where he was lying Rune watched the android place the glass of clear water on the table and then closely inspect Chaz. The youth was their leader and an important member of their team, so Rune could understand why Wren might be concerned for his health. They had spent a great many hours together in the glacier too and maybe they had become better friends. Rune wouldn't have minded it if Kyra would come to check on him later as well, that would certainly make him happy.

The esper was just about to close his eyes and go to sleep again, hoping to push Kyra's visit closer by killing some time, when something else managed to catch his attention instead. He watched, mute, as Wren leant down slowly and brushed blond hair away from the boy's brow, kissing Chaz with tenderness on his sleeping lips. Wren lingered there for a short while, savoring the moment, then he pulled away and stood again, smiling almost wistfully. "Chaz…" He said in a soft tone, murmuring the hunter's name fondly.

Rune couldn't help himself from gasping a little. He was a crafty and sly person however, so the very second that Wren heard him and glanced up sharply, like he had been caught committing an unforgivable crime, Rune managed to turn that gasp into nothing more than a sleepy cough. He rolled over, uttering some gibberish words to make it seem like he was mumbling in his sleep.

He waited while Wren stood there, watching and analyzing to see if Rune was awake. Minutes passed. One, two, three, four. Even his old teacher hadn't been as bad as this, but maybe Wren had become as startled and as nervous as Rune was, hoping that he had not just made a terrible mistake. The magician went over what he had just seen. Wren kissing Chaz. He was sure it was not a product of his cold-addled imagination. Mostly sure, anyway.

It was with great relief that Wren finally concluded Rune had only been sighing in his sleep. He left the room self-consciously, reminding himself never to do that again when somebody else was in the room. He had grown careless. That had been far too close for comfort. If somebody in his party found out about he and Chaz there would be no telling of the consequences. And Chaz might hate him, hate him for giving their secret away.

Wren was not aware that it was now too late for that. Rune knew. He was sick and not a hundred percent sure on what he had seen, and as time would creep on he'd begin to distrust his memory more, but a seed of suspicion had been planted and soon it would begin to grow.

About a minute after Wren had left the room Rune sat up and rubbed his head, confused. The last thing he had ever expected was to see Wren kissing _anybody_, let alone _Chaz_. If he were to tell any of his friends would they believe him? Probably not. Well, maybe Kyra, but she was an admitted tattletale. The esper suddenly had a sobering thought. Rika liked Chaz. She mustn't be allowed to know about this. It would be in everyone's best interests if Rune clammed himself up.

Even if nobody else knew, Rune knew. There wasn't much that could change that now. The esper enjoyed knowing about secrets; it helped to bolster his ego and image as the fifth reverent Lutz. Rune picked up his dog-eared book from the floor beside his bed. "Boy, you owe me big time…" He muttered as he opened the tome, diving back down into the elaborate history of magic.

xxx

Not long after Wren had left the inn he found himself in the wilderness, mountain-climbing.

It wasn't something he thought he'd be doing that day, hanging onto a cliff edge for dear life while trying to search for new hand and footholds in the rocks and stone. Hadn't yesterday been enough of an ordeal without having to go through this again? But Wren didn't complain, because it was not in his nature to and he felt safer because the ground was not very far away. Having Rika ahead of him, or more accurately above him also helped.

Wren thought that Rika must have had some mountain goat DNA in her somewhere. She scaled the cliff side three times faster than he and with twice as much agility. The girl had said she wanted to pick some lovely white blossoms for Raja to make him feel better, but she had neglected to mention to Wren that most dezorian flowers bloomed upon the near-inaccessible cliff faces and mini mesas, where they would not become covered and choked with snow. This did not deter Rika from seeking them out, rather it made her more determined than ever to search.

"Please Rika, slow down. I cannot keep up with you." Wren called up to her, wincing away from a trickle of powdered snow and small stones that fell as Rika moved above him. There was a ledge that he could reach by putting his weight onto one foothold and then search out with his other leg, but Wren wasn't really confident that it would be able to hold him for long. Looking like he was concentrating hard, he tested the stone and it instantly snapped, falling to the ground below.

Rika was having a great time. She already had half a dozen snow blossoms carefully stashed in an ice-weed mesh bag slung across her back, but that wouldn't be enough to complete a full and pretty bouquet. She needed at least half a dozen more for that. Wren was kind of slowing her down greatly but she didn't mind it, Rika just wanted company and somebody to talk to while she searched. Glancing down, she could see that Wren was at least a good two and a half meters below. "If I go as slow as you are I'll _never_ find all the flowers I need or reach the top. There's some stones to your left. They look like they might support you."

"Understood." Wren replied and inched closer to them, trusting Rika's words and the stones with his body. They held, but it was hard for him to describe to himself the helpless feeling of being suspended between a rock and a hard place, that hard place being the ground below. He was very glad that he didn't suffer from vertigo or a fear of heights as he pulled himself up closer to Rika's position, aware that such phobias were too innately palman for him to experience. However, had he not thought the same thing about attraction only a short while ago?

"Ooh, found another!" Rika exclaimed eagerly and stretched herself out over a dizzying drop to pluck a proud healthy snow flower nestled in the gully between two large boulders. She stowed it away with the others and made a daring leap towards the huge rocks, for half a second the girl completely airborne. Her dexterous hands caught upon the stone and she lifted herself effortlessly, sitting down on the boulder's surface and waiting for her friend to catch up. "How much further is it until the top?" She asked Wren.

"Quite a bit to go yet." Admitted the android. His sensors told him they were only a little under halfway to the summit. He was grateful that Rika had stopped for a rest. If she continued at her current pace she would eventually lose him, and what kind of person would he be if he lost one of his most important charges? A poor guardian indeed.

The numan sat on the stone in a near-formal manner, her back straight with her hands on her knees. The direction of the winds blew the continuous storm hard against the other side of the small mountain, leaving only a moderate snowfall and a slight shadow on their side. Rika could hear Wren making progress to climb up to her spot as she gazed out over the blurred horizon. Meese looked like a little toy village from her vantage point. She knew that somewhere within that village Chaz slept peacefully, working off the sickness that had claimed him. Poor Chaz. The boy who carried the weight of Algo on his shoulders.

"When we get to the top would it be okay if I talked to you about something, Wren?" The words just slipped out of her mouth like escaped prisoners, trapped inside for so long. A moment later she regretted speaking and wished that she could take the words back, for she was setting herself up for a conversation that she didn't really want to have.

After a minute of struggling Wren's head popped up from the other side of the large rocks. He swung an arm over the protrusion and used it to anchor himself there momentarily. "You can talk to me about anything you wish." Wren stated paternally, hauling himself up onto the boulder next to Rika. The whole mountain-climbing activity was extremely vigorous stuff. He would have been totally exhausted by now had he been anything other than an android.

They sat there together for a while, admiring the scenery. The ledge was not high enough for the view to be dizzying, but it was not low enough for either of them to be certain that if they fell they would land unharmed. In an hour or two the sun would descend and the sky would burn into a variety of oranges and pinks, the clouds translucent and fogging up the sunset. It would be a truly spectacular sight to behold. Rika couldn't get enough of things like that. She had to catch up on all the sunsets she had missed from her life before the outside world.

Rika had never seen a sunset from the rocky side of a snow encrusted mountain, cold and crisp yet somehow refreshing. She turned her head a little to look at her current companion. Wren had probably never seen anything like this either. Rika felt that she could identify with Wren in that particular manner. She and Wren both possessed great knowledge and wisdom, but held next to no real-life experience. They were both learned, yet learning at the very same time. The only true difference between them was that Rika had been created to gather and absorb these new experiences, while Wren had not been granted that same privilege. It was only by pure circumstance that they were walking the same path together.

She knew that she owed a great deal to Wren. Seed had given her life and substance, thought and reason, feelings and emotions, everything that had set her above the average biomonster. Seed had implanted in her a sense of self, while Wren had expanded on that sense of self with his teachings. He had taught her how to read and write, basic and then advanced mathematics, history, geography, anthropology, the sciences and sociology. Thirteen years of study crammed into six months of daily lessons. She missed those times a little, where the only thing that she needed to worry about was keeping pace with her heavy curriculum.

Her world had expanded since then, enormously, from one tiny bio-development plant hidden a valley to encompass an entire star system she was trying to comprehend all at once. Sometimes taking in all that information was overwhelming, but this was what Seed had prepared her for. Rika's very existence was to understand and defend Algo. At least Wren was with her now, somebody she never had expected to meet in person. In the past he had only been an image or a voice within a computer system, but now he was the closest thing to a parent she had left.

"You seem to be thinking very intently, Rika. May I ask you of your thoughts?" Wren said gently, shattering the silence that had only been punctuated by the wind. Rika jumped a bit at having her train of thought derailed so suddenly. It was unlike Wren to start a conversation, especially in a manner that pried into Rika's thoughts so shamelessly. The numan girl _had_ noticed that Wren seemed to have changed noticeably after being removed from Zelan and placed into real, honest life. These changes had manifested more dramatically in the last week or so. He smiled more, talked more, and genuinely appeared to show an interest in other people's problems.

That was the _real_ reason why Rika had invited him out into the wilderness, where the others could not reach them. She desperately needed to talk to somebody, _anybody_, and Wren was one of the people that she trusted the most. Rika brushed some bright pink hair behind one of her pointy ears and sighed deeply, like somebody aware that they were going to step off a precipice and into the dark, invisible unknown.

She couldn't wait to reach the top to talk about her problems. If she did she might lose her nerve. "I was just thinking. You and Chaz seem to have become rather good friends lately. Am I right?" Rika calmly asked the android, completely unaware of how deeply that friendship had delved.

Wren looked blank. There was no other way he could think to look like without seeming guilty or worse. They were friends, that much was true. That was all Rika needed to know. "You are correct. It is very important to keep our party together as closely as we can. Chaz is our leader. I would like to get along with him as well as I am able." He had not lied, Wren could at least be proud of that, but omission was only a half-truth, a weak truth.

Rika looked down into her lap, fidgeting with the small protrusions of her retracted claws lying upon her knuckles. The girl could rip any kind of creature under the sun to bloody pieces using those claws, it just seemed so bizarre that that the same girl could struggle so much with simple words. This vaguely reminded Wren of something. She bore the same sort of expression that Chaz Ashley had worn many days ago, back within the night of the machine center. Oh no. Oh _no_.

"Well, because you have been hanging around him so much do you know if Chaz is seeing anybody right now?" Rika blurted out in one breath. The heavy pressure she had felt against her chest drained away with each word spoken. She smiled a little, sadly. "It's just that he seemed so depressed a short while ago, and he made some kind of reference about liking somebody in the bar the other night. Now he seems much happier, freer, I suppose, so I guessed that he must have made up his mind and gone out with somebody. I was wondering who it could be."

What a dilemma Wren was in. Rika had guessed right when she assumed that Chaz's recent vigor stemmed from a new love interest in his life, but Wren was absolutely certain that Rika could never make a correct guess on who that love interest might be. She probably thought that Chaz had hooked up with one of the women from a town they had passed through on their travels. If the android told her the truth he would not only hurt Rika, but he would also hurt himself and Chaz as well. The hunter had made him promise never to tell anybody about his feelings for Rika. Wren would just have to keep that promise. It would be his duty.

"I _do_ know that Chaz is seeing somebody. That much is true." He informed her softly, brushing snowflakes from his armor. Rika was trembling a bit from the cold, or maybe not the cold, but she had wisely decided to dress warmly this time. Wren hit the nail on the head with his next question. "Is that the reason why you asked me to follow you out here? Because you wanted to ask me that?"

The girl felt her heart sink like a stone. She had done a very courageous thing in facing her inner emotions and trying to talk to somebody else about her feelings, but now it seemed like it had all been for naught. Chaz had already found somebody else. Why hadn't she admitted her feelings to him sooner? She was so _stupid_. "Yes, that's the reason. I didn't know who else to talk to. I really like him, Wren. It might be hard for you to understand, but I think I could be in love with him. Chaz has been so strong for all of us, even if it has left himself weak and vulnerable. I admire him greatly for that."

Before Wren could answer her Rika continued. Once somebody has cracked the hard surface on a deep inner problem it was hard to stop talking about it until all was said. If only she knew just how desperately and with feeling Chaz had spoken to Wren about such a similar matter. It would have solved all her problems. Rika had turned towards her android friend and looked unhappy, cold winds from the north stinging her cheek. "But to be honest, I don't really understand how I feel. I don't know what love is. I've only ever read about it before. How can I be certain what I feel for Chaz is real honest love? I just don't know what to do."

Wren knew that he had to ask himself the very same question. He understood a little too well about what Rika was going through. He did like Chaz very much, and that sense of like was growing stronger the more time he spent with the boy, but was that all that it was? Just like? Wren wasn't sure, so he did not know how to confidently reply to Rika's question. He was no expert on this. All he could do was tell her practically the same thing that he had told Chaz. "The only way that you will be able to receive a conclusive answer is to speak to Chaz directly. You cannot accomplish anything by keeping it to yourself."

"You're probably right." Rika agreed from where she sat, but did not seem cheered up by the solution. If anything it made her seem even sadder. Wren really disliked seeing Rika upset, but there wasn't much more that he could do for her besides what he had just said. The girl laughed nervously, with ironical humor. "But would it surprise you for me to say that I'm too scared to talk to Chaz about it? I know that Chaz is just a normal kid from Motavia but he has been elevating himself so much since he became our leader. I don't want him to think lowly of me if I tell him how I feel and he thinks it's strange because I'm a scientific project. What if he wants a _real_ girl? One from his home world with normal ears and a normal life?"

"Do you honestly believe that Chaz would think like that?" Wren asked seriously, paying total attention now. The numan girl was being slightly dramatic and chances were that she didn't completely believe her own words, but it was the _doubt_ that was the dangerous part. With doubt one could be led to believe _anything_. Rika shook her head at Wren but the doubt still clung to her like a sweaty grip, refusing to let go.

The android thought of what next to say. Trying to understand palman reasoning was draining. "It does surprise me that you would be afraid, but I can also understand that fear. You can either speak to Chaz about how you feel and have courage, or you can remain as you are. I believe that you judge him too harshly. Chaz is a good man."

It did seem like a very simple decision when Wren spelt it out that way. But being simple in theory did _not_ make it simple in practice. Rika envied the girls who seemed so normal, easily filling in an empty slot of the world with their presence. Truthfully, Rika had never really been very comfortable with herself since she had seen the real world and what _real_ girls were supposed to look like. It only worsened her self-image as a horned science experiment born to fight. How could a person like Chaz be interested in something like _that_?

"But I guess it doesn't matter anymore, because Chaz has found somebody else. I wish I had gone to him sooner. Now I have missed my chance." Rika sighed. She took off the woven bag that she had been carrying and plucked a snowy flower from its confines. The white petals were delicate and thin, like tiny downy feathers. The blossom smelt mildly like vanilla. Rika thoughtfully twirled the stem between two fingers. "I wonder if Chaz loves her?" She mused out loud.

Tentatively Wren reached out and placed a hand on Rika's comparatively diminutive shoulder. He couldn't tell her that the girl in question was not really a girl at all, and that he was sitting right next to her. He also could not tell her that Chaz was only interested in him now, as that was certainly not true. The hunter loved Rika and wanted to be with her more than he wanted to be with Wren. He would have told her this if he had not been bound by a promise to never say a word. Convincing Rika that she should speak to Chaz was the right thing to do, even if it meant that she might take Chaz away from him. At least they would both get to be happy. Wren was not so selfish as to keep that from happening.

Even if it meant that Wren would lose Chaz. What else could he do? He cared for them both, more than he cared about himself. "Chaz may have found somebody else, but that doesn't mean that you still do not have a chance. Talk to him. It may be that the person he is with does not deserve him anyway. You may be able to offer him more than they can." Rika looked at him, not quite willing to hope but desperately wanting to. As for Wren, saying those things really hurt him, but he continued anyway. "I am sure that Chaz would prefer you over anybody else."

"Do you think so?" Rika pressed obstinately, beginning to feel relieved. She had just wanted somebody to mutely listen to her vent out her problems, but she hadn't expected her old teacher to be so knowledgeable about love and relationship issues. Where on Dezoris had he learnt stuff like that from? Rika raised one hand and lightly touched the tip of one of her pointed ears. "Do you really think that Chaz would like somebody like me?"

"You should ask him that, not I." Wren replied, looking out over the cloudy snow-blinded horizon. With his hand on her shoulder he pulled the numan girl a little closer to him. Softly he added as he inspected her; "I cannot see anything wrong with you. It might not seem like much coming from somebody like me, but by palman standards I think that you are beautiful, Rika."

Rika smiled sincerely this time. Wren would not lie to her, so that must be what he genuinely thought. She put the flower back in her bag and hugged her friend. She had made the right decision in bringing him out here and finally talking about her feelings for Chaz for the very first time. She felt so much lighter for it. "Thank you Wren, for being a good friend. I'm going to sit on these thoughts for a little while longer so I can absorb them properly, and if everything seems okay I'll talk to Chaz after we come back from the Air Castle."

But a good friend probably wouldn't have hidden the fact that they were dating Chaz behind Rika's back. Well, if Rika talked to the hunter she would never ever have to know about it. Wren felt drained, and not just from the climb up the side of the mountain either. "I am glad I was able to help you." He said.

"Will you promise not to tell anybody what we just talked about? I don't want anybody else finding out about it until I'm ready." Rika blushed a bit. "Especially Chaz."

So he was to be bound to two separate promises of silence. It would be so much easier if he could just push Chaz towards Rika and Rika towards Chaz, but the both of them were just too overprotective of their own feelings in case they were hurt. Maybe they would make a better pair than Wren had originally assumed, as they certainly thought along the same lines.

It was strange. While Wren did indeed want that to happen, another part of him did not want the numan and the hunter to pair up at all. Those duplicitous thoughts made it difficult for Wren to understand how he truly felt. He raised his hand a little anyway and gave her his pledge. "I promise that I shall not say a word." He vowed.

Rika seemed satisfied with that. She trusted him. Nodding her acknowledgement, she turned her gaze back to the horizon. A tiny little speck in the distance gravitated toward a dark snowy mass, a frosted-over forest. Not long after that she watched a few tall trees begin to fall. A dezorian lumberjack was cutting down some more wood before the darkness seeped into the sky, Rika guessed. Even though horrible things were happening in the world and their star system, people still continued to live their normal lives. They were either oblivious or spiting the darkness by living as well or as happily as they could.

That concept held a certain beauty within it. All at once Rika didn't want to leave the rocky outcropping that showed her a large slice of the dezorian world. She felt bonded to it, like she had become a stone herself. Soon the lights would flicker on in the houses of Meese and nighttime would become attracted to them like moths to a flame. Rika hummed a simple, musical tune as she waited for the first few lights to appear in the distance.

It was a very short, sweet, simple song. With her hands gently folded in her lap she remembered the words, reciting them to the air and the wind. Rika had only recently discovered this, but whenever she felt lost or confused singing was usually able to calm her down and make her feel better again. Songs were like stories; they could be discovered anywhere. She vaguely remembered Hahn singing it long ago, back when she had been so young and Alys had still been alive.

The song only contained one stanza, but it was steady and very pretty along with the tune, as most love songs were. Rika had almost forgotten that she wasn't alone. "If I had words to make a day for you…" She sung, repeating the verse a second time.

"I'd sing you a morning golden and true…" Wren answered softly from her side, mimicking the rest of the verse that he had learned from Rika the first time. The girl looked toward the android and grinned. He really _did_ have a good voice. It was nice to hear him using it sometimes.

"I would make this day last for all time…" Rika added, her tone and pitch lovely and perfect. She liked this song. It reminded her a little of how big and wonderful Algo was, along with the people living within it. It also reminded her slightly of Chaz.

"Then fill the night deep with moonshine." They finished together in perfect harmony. By herself Rika sounded good, and by himself Wren seemed to have talent as well, but together it was different. Something more was added, though it was hard to tell just what. The first of the little lights of Meese popped up when both Wren and Rika fell silent. They looked at each other. Rika laughed while Wren just smiled. That had been unexpected for the both of them, but it had been fun.

It really was time for them to go. Hanging out in the wilderness in the early evening was dangerous, as that was when the temperature began to drop and all manner of nasty creatures came out to hunt. Wren rose from where he had been sitting, then extended a hand and graciously helped Rika to her feet. It seemed like maybe they had become a little closer since they had had that discussion and sung that song. "Let us go back to Meese." Wren said.

Rika searched the pockets of her fur-lined coat. "I brought an escapipe so we wouldn't have to climb all the way back down again. Oh, I didn't get all the flowers I needed to make a proper bouquet. I hope Raja doesn't mind getting a smaller one, but it's the thought that counts, right?" She located the item in her inventory and was about to activate it when she addressed Wren once more. "Thanks again for helping me with my problems. I think that we sound really good. We should sing together more often."

"Perhaps." The android replied neither positively nor negatively, taking Rika's hand again so that when she used the escapipe it would encompass the both of them. Things might become complicated if they were separated. The world went dark as the girl utilized the relocation item. Wren knew that he had a lot of thinking to do before they left Dezoris and headed back to the Air Castle. Everything had become fiercely complicated already after what he had told Rika.

And he didn't even _know_ about Rune yet, about what Rune knew.


	15. As I Feel, You Feel

(A/N: I am so sorry, doods. Because of Fanfiction dot net's policy of 'no graphic sex whatsoever', I am unable to deliver to you the entirety of this chapter. I had to cut out a whole scene because it was NC-17. Now, if you are over eighteen (or just REALLY want the uncut version of this chapter because of the yaoi XD), there are two ways that you can get it. Ideally you can check out my account on Adult Fanfiction dot net, or you can email me a request for the uncut version of this chapter. There's no need to worry, I'm a very friendly person. My email is on my profile. Happy readings!)

Wren didn't talk much for most of the evening. Their little scattered group had bonded together again outside of the inn, knowing that tomorrow morning they would be risking their lives against a foe so dangerous that he had almost balked the indomitable will of the Heroine two thousand years ago. Lassic. It may well have been their very last night alive, warm and breathing under Algo's sun and stars.

Nobody could predict what might happen and everybody had their own guesses. Rune held the most educated and seasoned one, after having fought Lassic already as another man, Noah, the progenitor of the Esper. He didn't want to admit the fact that he was terrified to anyone, let alone himself. He did not think very much of what he had seen that afternoon when he pretended to slumber. Even with Wren and Chaz around most of his mental energy was focussed on preparing for the fight ahead. Everybody counted on him and he _had_ to deliver.

Kyra had returned briefly to meet with the others and Rune was further disappointed to hear that the girl was planning to spend her evening hanging out with Eugene. The whole thing just reeked of a badly-disguised date. Rather than facing the reality of their next suicide mission Kyra was attempting to run away from it in any manner that she could. The esper girl was amazed that her four other friends were able to cope with it so well, but she knew that they were more used to these situations than she was.

As a favor to Kyra Eugene had granted Rika permission to see Raja after visiting hours had ended. She gathered up all the snow blossoms that she had picked upon the mountainside and tied them together with a lovely blue ribbon. It made the flowers look extremely precious and fragile. Rika was not very worried about their next trip to the Air Castle. They had triumphed once before and they would surely do so again. The only real disturbing thoughts in her mind were related to Chaz and the conversation that they would be having soon enough. She had to think of what to say, how to say it, and guess what Chaz's reaction might be.

She already had a few of them played out in her mind, ranging from a happy desirable outcome to the very worst responses possible. Rika wanted to be sufficiently braced and prepared if Chaz haphazardly decided to split her heart in two. For now though she was eager to give her gift to Raja and talk to the old man without the others standing by around her. Originally the girl had planned to have her 'talk' about Chaz with the dezorian priest, but she had found that she couldn't wait that long and had settled for Wren instead. It was probably just as well, for she had come out of it satisfied.

Chaz Ashley seemed vastly healthier as he stepped out of the inn and into the street to meet up with his friends. It was a combination of good bed rest, warmth, sleep, and the medication that he had taken earlier that had nearly cleared up most of the symptoms of his cold. The results of the combination were just as outstanding with Rune as they were with Chaz. He was pretty good, prepared for anything and _especially_ the battle with Lassic. He felt ready.

Both girls had wandered off towards the esper healing house. That left the boys, Rune, Chaz and Wren all alone together. It was a cloudy moonless night on Dezoris. Nearly all the light to see by was cast from bonfires left burning by the townspeople. The three adventurers congregated close to one of the fires for its free heat. "Tomorrow will decide the fate of this planet, whether we live or die. I tell myself that we can win because of how powerful we have become, but then I just remember all that Lassic has done in the past and I just get… uncertain." Rune said, warming his hands on the fire.

"Then just don't think about it." Chaz advised from the other side of the fire. The flickering light from the flames made his bright golden hair appear almost orange. "It's very simple. I've already come this far by not really thinking about things all the way through. It seems to have worked." He reflected on his own words and laughed. "I didn't really intend to make it sound that way, but you ought to get what I mean."

Rune looked sullenly into the pyre. Once he realised that his low mood was perfectly visible to Chaz and Wren he made a disapproving 'tsking' sound with his mouth and glanced to the side. A lot of things bugged him, but what bugged him the most was no longer present in their party. It was so stupid. He was supposed to be worrying, not becoming sidetracked. "What could she be thinking, going off with some guy like that?" Rune said softly, but Chaz could still hear him.

"Are you thinking about Kyra?" The hunter guessed accurately, yet Rune did not give the answer away. He didn't like the answer even if it was true. Come to think of it Rune and Kyra had been spending an awful lot of time together lately. Chaz had hardly even noticed, having his own various problems to contend with. The esper might have been jealous for Kyra's decision to spend precious time away with somebody else. Rune may have been the Lutz, but he was mortal, and palman as well. Chaz smiled reassuringly. "Kyra's smart, she knows what she's doing. I bet she just wants to spend some time away from us before she risks her neck and her life for Algo."

That was a rather astute observation, coming from Chaz. The boy managed to hit a nerve so accurately that Rune actually blushed a little. Haughtily the magician shot down the idea, hmphing. "Shut up. This is all because I… I…" He stopped talking, realizing that he was on the verge of pouring a fraction of his heart out to a stupid _boy_. "Why the hell do I have to tell any of this to you two, anyway? It's none of your business!"

"Perhaps Eugene is Kyra's relative?" Wren guessed from where he was standing and then fell silent again. It was funny how everybody in their group of five had suddenly and simultaneously began to think with their hearts instead of the rational voices of reason inside their heads. The thought of fighting Lassic was hovering above them as thick black clouds, smothering the sky, but beneath that thoughts of love were the snowy blizzards, complicating things further.

Wren sure as hell knew that he couldn't concentrate right now, and that was because he had practically given Chaz away to Rika, although the boy did not know it yet. It was only a matter of time until he was hers. Wren was sure that it was the best conclusion to a twisted series of events, but he hated it all the same.

"That doesn't sound too damn likely." Rune answered, bitter. He just wanted time to speed forward a little so that he could put certain thoughts out of his mind, thoughts that he could hardly admit to having anyway. He was still kind of sick even though the medicine made him feel perfectly fine, so Rune knew where he had to go, a place of meditation both sacred and welcoming. "I'm going to the pub. See you both in the morning."

Rune, the father of the esper people, more than content to drown his sorrows away. As he turned to leave Chaz called out to him. "Don't you dare drink too much! We won't be able to win against Lassic if you're hung over!"

He stopped walking, glancing back at Chaz and Wren by the bonfire. He remembered well what had happened earlier in the day when he was supposed to be sleeping and Chaz had slept. The hunter seemed to be totally oblivious and unaware to it, and Wren looked just as happy as Rune felt himself. The android was sort of staring at the ground. He had seen Wren smile a couple of times in the past week or so, yet he had never seen him look as depressed as he was now.

He was going to ask about what he had seen but he shut up over the subject instead. The only thing he'd be able to accomplish by asking was to freak out Chaz and probably embarrass Wren. Freaking out the blond hunter would have seemed rather appealing any other time, however at the current moment Rune just didn't feel like it. The esper sighed. "I know. I'll be stone cold sober when we set foot in the Air Castle. I just need some time to myself."

As far as Chaz knew Rune's habit of drinking was not a serious problem in his life, yet it _was_ an emotional crutch to him when nothing else would lend their support. Being the Lutz must be an extremely lonely life. Chaz watched the esper fade away into the darkening town streets until he was gone, then he turned to his friend standing right beside him. "Looks like it's just you and me now, Wren. How come nobody ever invites _us_ out for the evening? What do you wanna do?"

Wren didn't look at him. He didn't appear to want to make eye contact with _anybody_ that night. Even as he spoke the way that he said things made it seem like he had reverted back to the quiet emotionless android he had been weeks ago. It wasn't any kind of hostility, just a faint introversion with no visible cause. "I have no opinion on the subject. I will withdraw to the inn now. You should do the same unless you wish for your illness to worsen. Goodnight, Chaz."

Chaz folded his arms, surprised, as Wren left him at the pyre as well. The android walked up to the entrance of the inn, opened the door and stepped inside, then he closed it a little harder than was necessary. If Chaz hadn't known any better he could have sworn that Wren might be upset over something. For what reason he didn't know, but standing out in the snow all night wasn't a very good idea. "Hey, wait for me!" He cried and walked to the inn himself, brushing unwanted snowflakes away.

The inn was much more modest than the one in Ryuon. Originally the Meese healing house had once been the only luxurious hostel facility within the entire town, but the kind innkeeper had lent it to the victims of the black energy wave and the espers out of the goodness of his heart. The _new_ inn which replaced the old one was none other than the innkeeper's own home, but it was large enough to still be comfortable and warm. The innkeeper's wife was in the sitting room feeding fuel to the fireplace when Chaz came inside. She was a short, plump woman with a calming smile on her face.

"Did you see which way my friend went?" Chaz politely asked of her as she straightened herself up and patted her slightly dirty hands on her orange apron. The wood freshly tossed into the fire gave off a distinctive earthy smell as it burned, like incense.

The woman nodded. "Yes, he just went upstairs to the guest rooms. It's good to hear that you're not sneezing constantly anymore." She smiled prettily. "I was going to make you and your esper friend some chicken soup for tea but it looks like you don't need it now. I'll make it anyway, because a traveler always needs to eat."

Chaz thanked the woman for the information and climbed the staircase himself. He hadn't really needed to ask her in the first place, as right now the lower floor was where the innkeeper's family lived and the upper floor was for the guests. Even upstairs the strange pleasant scent of the wood burning fire permeated through. Only a couple of candles were lit in the hallway. It had been getting pretty dark outside, was it that late already? The hunter knew where he was supposed to go. He already knew where Wren would be.

And he was right. Chaz entered the room belonging to he and Rune and Wren was standing over by the closed windowsill, looking out through the snow-encrusted glass. The twilight shapes of the village houses were visible as ashy monoliths surrounded by white, and yet even more snow was falling all around them. The burning pyres punctuating the town streets lit up the areas like orange motionless fireflies. Like stars. Chaz didn't knock as he stepped inside. "Hey." He greeted awkwardly, closing the door.

Wren turned his head to glance at him. There seemed to be some kind of passive emotion written on his face, but it was not a basic one so Chaz wasn't quite sure if his friend was angry or sad or both. "What is it, Chaz?" Wren asked quietly as he looked back through the window again, his arms folded. He was certain that Chaz was going to ask him a dozen different questions now. Wren wasn't sure if he wanted that, or if his action only minutes earlier was a form of camouflaged attention-seeking. Ever since he had kissed Chaz he could no longer understand what he felt.

"What are you doing in here? This is my room." Chaz pressed as he took an unlit candle from its place on the mantle and walked over to his bedside table where he was certain that he would find some matches. Rune could light a candle with only his fingertips, but Chaz had to settle for something less supernatural. Once the candle was lit he shook out the match flame with one or two shakes of his wrist.

"I spent the last of my meseta today so I could not afford an inn room for myself. I did not want to stand in the snow, so I came here." Wren paused, letting an empty silence hang suspended in the air. It seemed like he was deciding on what he should say next. Chaz cupped a hand loosely around the side of the candle flame so he could experience its warmth, waiting patiently. "I could leave now, if you want me to." Wren added dully. He wouldn't hold it against the boy if he said yes. As it was, he was probably in the way.

"You don't have to do that. You can stay." Chaz emptied his hands, placing the candlestick on his bedside table, next to the medicine that had successfully suppressed his cold. Laying eyes on the medicine his mind made a connection. Wren had no money left because he had spent it all on Chaz. As sweet as it was, it had still been a little silly of him. The hunter smiled at the thought that Wren was willing to sacrifice his own comfort in order to make him feel better. "Thank you for bringing me that medicine. I knew it was you, even if you didn't sign that note." Chaz said.

"You did not think it was Rika?" Wren said carefully, moving away from the window and sitting down on one of the two armchairs in the room. Resting his elbows on his knees Wren laced his fingers together and peered up at Chaz questioningly. He couldn't figure out why the hunter had followed him here while Rika was obviously in love with him. Now that Wren had been informed of it all the signs seemed glaringly self-evident. Chaz must be blind not to notice them. No, maybe not blind but distracted, by him.

"If Rika wanted to take care of me she'd do it up close, like what she's doing for Raja. Maybe someday she will. That'd be nice." Chaz became dreamy for a second, thinking of just that, but then his feet touched the ground again and he came back down to Dezoris. Taking a seat on his unmade bed Chaz continued, knowingly. "That's the way that Rika does things. You're different, Wren. You do good things for people while trying not to let them know that you're there, being kind to them. Sometimes, though, I think that maybe you _want_ to be seen. Is that why you left that note for me with the medicine?"

"I cannot give you an answer. I do not know why I did that." Wren confessed to Chaz solemnly. He was telling the truth. He had wanted Chaz to get better as quickly as possible and the android didn't care about which means would get to that end. Wren did, however, want Chaz to acknowledge the fact that he cared. It was selfish reasoning, and it was also frightening. He frowned. "This is all wrong."

Chaz watched Wren for awhile, thinking of what to say. The android was intentionally averting his gaze. He looked lost and afraid to ask for help in that quiescent manner he always had. The boy didn't know what to do with him. He seemed cheerful enough this morning, but something or some sort of idea must have gotten to him between the interim of then and now. Chaz got up and stood in front of his friend, holding out a hand as he spoke. "Look, you're definitely upset about something. Why don't you tell me what it is so we can work it out together?"

The promise he had made to Rika forced him into silence. Wren didn't say anything at all, choosing to ignore Chaz instead. The boy stood there for a minute or two, his hand held out in offering, but when it seemed like Wren wasn't going to respond to him Chaz sighed, feeling defeated. "Alright then, don't worry about it. I'm going to go find Rune and bring him back to the inn. I don't like the idea of him drinking before a dangerous mission. He can do that sort of thing afterwards. I'll be back soon." Chaz turned sharply on his heel, towards the door. He started to leave.

"Stop."

In a comparatively unexpected and brash move Wren suddenly reached out and snatched up Chaz's hand, causing the youth to stop dead in his tracks. He had no special talent in reading people by their emotions and their actions, but this motion by Wren seemed almost desperate to him, as desperate as Chaz had been outside of his inn room back in Ryuon. The candle flame burned distantly in the background. Chaz couldn't see Wren's face but he could imagine it. "Please don't go. We need to talk." The android said at a barely audible level, a mere whisper.

Somehow Chaz had already known from the way that Wren had acted all evening and by the sheer atmosphere in the room that something important was going to happen tonight. A small part of his mind had been expecting it, so he was not at all surprised with himself for patiently waiting instead of going on his way. He had never heard that level of hesitant emotion in Wren's voice before. It was just like the way Chaz himself had sounded when he spoke with fear, regarding Rika. "What is it?" He asked gently, unwilling to raise his voice in the quiet room.

Wren already knew that what he was doing was foolish, yet he no longer held the power to stop himself. He supposed that he felt weak for clinging to a mortal palman and begging him not to go. Weakness and foolishness went hand-in-hand. He was not supposed to be this way. What had changed him so? "Everything that occurs in this world happens for a reason, so there must be an explanation why I feel this way. Chaz, I barely understand the motivations behind half of my actions anymore. What have you done to me?"

This was really strange. Normally Wren was the one with all the answers. Chaz was moderately smart for his age, sixteen years old, but how could he hope to answer a question that a thousand-year android couldn't comprehend? It was obvious Wren knew something that Chaz didn't but that was not important now, making his friend feel better was. He didn't like it when Wren was upset.

"You can't blame me totally for what's happened to you. You're the one who kissed _me_, not the other way around. A person can't and won't change until they give up their consent to be changed, first. That's why I got so scared during the beginning of our relationship, because I realised that I gave away my consent subconsciously. I didn't know that was possible. When I asked you to kiss me in Ryuon it was just me consciously reaffirming the way that I felt in my heart. If you still don't understand the reason why you kissed me in the first place then why do you care so much if I leave the room now?"

Chaz's words were blunt and matter-of-fact on the surface, but also hiding kindness and understanding within. He could talk confidently because he had experienced the very same emotions only days earlier. It was a series of different yet similar events that had unlocked the same in Wren. He could view it as an emotional growth spurt. It would be painful but he'd be a bigger person for it. Wren shook his head at Chaz's words. "I do not know. I just don't want to be alone tonight, of all nights. I am happier when you are present and anticipate that your absence will leave me distressed. These are simple terms that I am using because I am not that adept at describing my feelings, but do you understand what I am trying to say?"

"I think so, yeah." This was slightly like talking to a child. A child with a large vocabulary, but a child nonetheless. Wren was distinctly clueless in many areas and filling in the blanks might be embarrassing and frightening for him, but his dedication and willingness to do so was humbling. "You're saying that you don't want to be lonely. But Wren," Chaz smiled, "I'm not going anywhere. I'll still be here for a while yet. If we fail and die then it won't matter, but if we defeat Lassic and win I'll still be here."

"No you won't…" Wren uttered as a person completely and unshakably certain of the truth. He sighed and pulled Chaz backwards, towards him with a carefully measured gentleness. Chaz felt a thrill of adrenaline weave through him in a bright ribbon as he couldn't quite see where he was being pulled to, but he trusted Wren enough not to fear. The android snaked one arm around the hunter's middle and managed to slip his hand beneath Chaz's bodysuit and his black undershirt. Chaz flinched instinctively as he had expected the touch to be as cold as ice, but his anticipation was misplaced. Wren must have learnt from previous experience what the hunter preferred instead.

He was coerced into sitting on Wren's knee, and seeing as he had spoken practically under his breath Chaz had not heard the android's words. The boy was a little confused. Although Wren had been the one to start their relationship he had been pretty submissive so far. This was a bit of a change. Chaz coyly admitted to himself that he kind of liked it, but he also reminded himself that his friend seemed to be upset. "Alright. I won't go until you say I am allowed to go. Is that better?" He asked.

"That is not what I want." The dark-haired machine stated unhappily. He didn't want Chaz to stay because he felt that that he _needed_ to, or had no choice but to stay. Wren wanted Chaz here with him, now, purely because that was what the hunter wanted for himself. For Chaz to pick Wren, not Rika. He was jealous of her, he was able to admit this now, and Wren was so doubtful and frustrated over what he should do next. It seemed like there was nothing else that he _could_ do. He had already selected Chaz's destiny for him. "Oh, why did I encourage Rika?" He wondered to himself out loud.

"Rika? What happened between you and-" Ironically, the same method that Chaz had used to taunt Wren in the snowy ravine was effectively used to shut Chaz up now. Wren was indeed a fast learner. He took Chaz's hand and squeezed it lightly, reassuringly as he pulled away. His grey eyes looked extremely thoughtful, and any kind of expression within them was rare. The boy remembered that Rika and Wren had spent the afternoon together while he had been sick in bed. Chaz blushed, concerned. "You shouldn't kiss me. I'm still contagious." He admitted bashfully.

"It does not really worry me." Wren said simply. He was not a palman, so he was immune to just about every pathogen that existed. It was just one more kind of barrier that separated him from Chaz. They were far enough apart already, even as the youth was practically sitting in his lap patiently, desiring to know what was wrong. Wren was intelligent enough to take his own advice that he had given to Chaz and Rika and just openly admit what was bothering his mind. Nothing positive would ever happen if he kept it to himself.

"I thought that I would be able to accept the fact that you are in love with Rika and would choose her over me if given the choice. What we have is something that was never meant to happen. I am aware that you were infatuated with Rika long before you became infatuated with me, but I can no longer tolerate being a stand-in for somebody else. It is just too cruel to allow me to develop an attachment to you. If you believe that in the future you and Rika will be together then we should end this relationship right now, because I cannot care for somebody who will soon disappear."

He managed to say all of this rather impartially, detaching himself from his confession. Chaz took in the information as well as he could. He hadn't known just how much his feelings for Rika had bothered his friend. Wren had been fine with it earlier but at some point in time a line must have been crossed to make him change his mind. Chaz had never anticipated hearing Wren saying such heartfelt things, perhaps he had taken for granted the idea that Wren was only mimicking the affection that Chaz had given to him. It was easier to accept the idea of liking an android that way. But Wren was certainly not copying an emotion that he was seeing all around him, as sappy as it sounded Chaz could tell from his kisses alone that Wren's affection was genuine.

Chaz didn't want to end their relationship. As strangely unorthodox as it was he was beginning to like where it was going. In the simplest sense Wren was making him happy, something that the unrequited love of Rika had not been able to do. In the midst of this horrible war Chaz just wanted to find happiness wherever he could. "I don't know what's going to happen in the future. Nobody does. But if you want to end this thing we have just because of what _might_ happen then you're just as much of a coward as I was when I wondered if Rika would ever want me." Chaz leaned closer to his friend. "I honestly don't know if I love you or not, but I _do_ want to stay with you. Is that enough, for now?"

"I suppose." Wren accepted reluctantly. This didn't resolve what would inevitably happen after the Air Castle, but by virtue of the promise he had made to Rika he could say no more about it. He had said too much already. The only thing that he could do now was enjoy the time he had left with Chaz as well as he was able. They might die tomorrow. Nobody knew the future. "I am sorry for being so selfish." He said.

"That's alright. We all deserve to be a little selfish sometimes. It's just our nature…" Chaz started to say earnestly, but his words began to dwindle away when he realised how Wren was looking at him. For the very first time, instead of Wren kissing Chaz or Chaz kissing Wren, this time they did it together. There wasn't any clear way for the hunter to describe how it felt. He just put his hand on Wren's shoulder plate and felt him touch gently the side of his neck, then their lips locked as one.

He gave in to the wonderful sinking sensation and forgot about the fact that he was still a little ill. Within only a couple of seconds it was completely gone from his mind. Chaz grabbed a tighter hold of whatever he could and practically forced himself onto Wren, turning the kiss into a passionate struggle. The android was not the selfish one, Chaz was. He was the one that would use Wren like an object until somebody better came along, somebody _real_. But for what it was worth the hunter could also forget about that too and focus solely on his friend. He owed him that much.

Eventually Chaz became desperate for air and had to disentangle his tongue from Wren's in order to breathe. He felt hot and flushed but not from his cold, and he was smiling a little anxiously after he had pulled away. "We should stop this. What if somebody comes in and catches us?" It was only a cautious half-hearted afterthought to how he felt. The last thing Chaz wanted to do was stop, but the prudish little voice in his head was offering up its last line of defense before it decided to give up and go away.

Wren wasn't very convinced that Chaz meant what he said. His heart rate was quickening very fast and he wasn't breathing like somebody who wanted to be calmed down. Wren smiled softly for the first time that evening. "I am listening for them. You don't have to worry." That was sort of a lie. He hadn't really been paying much attention to his surroundings but he would do so now. He couldn't help it, Chaz had been distracting him.

"I hope you do a better job than last time. Aah!" Chaz said smartly then jumped a bit as Wren slid his hand up from the boy's waist and across his pale, nearly hairless front. It felt so strange, different, perhaps, as not many people had ever had their hands on him in that way save for himself. The faint jolt of sensation came from when Wren's fingertips brushed over one of the sensitive buds on Chaz's chest, startling him.

As Chaz recoiled from the motion Wren paused. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" He asked, and the innocent seriousness that he was displaying actually made Chaz laugh a little, albeit nervously.

"No, it doesn't hurt. I'll tell you if something hurts." A couple of seconds after he had already said it Chaz realise the implications of his own words. The hunter turned bright red. Was he giving his consent away subconsciously once more? It was scary. He remembered Wren saying that he wouldn't do anything to Chaz unless the boy specifically asked for it, and he was very glad that such a choice had been left to him. But what if he made the wrong decision? What if he did something that he would regret later, be it a day, a month or a year from now?

But as mentioned before, nobody knew the future, especially Chaz. If Lassic killed them all tomorrow then at least he could be grateful that he hadn't spent his last night alive all alone. Wren was here because he didn't want to be alone either. Everything fit together so easily, but it was hard for Chaz to believe that this might be it. _It_. Whatever _it_ was. Nothing that Alys had told him would ever fit into an equation like _this_. "Do you think this is right?" Chaz said to Wren, but also to himself as well.

"Does it really matter?" Wren replied gently and took his hands away from Chaz only to reach up and grasp the zipper to the front of his red bodysuit, drawing it down easily and then pulling the garment from the blond palman's shoulders. Chaz wriggled out of the sleeves himself but the process was slowed down a little as Wren kissed him again, quickly and sweetly. "Lift your arms." He said after the kiss and Chaz did so willingly, allowing the android to remove his dark undershirt, pulling it up over his head.

Chaz instinctively folded his arms across his front to keep anybody from looking, an undeniably feminine gesture. Wren took his wrists and pinned them to the boy's legs before looking at him very seriously. He was unnerved by that look. It reminded him of that night during the machine center right before they had done something incredibly stupid. "Um… do you have any idea of what you're doing?" He asked, certain that Wren could go no further than where they had gotten in Ryuon. They were picking up from where they had left off, but nobody had asked Chaz if that was what he really wanted.

"I thought about it for a while and now I believe that I have a general idea, based on logic and anatomy." The dark-haired machine studiously slipped an arm around the boy's back and held him carefully, the tips of his fingers touching the soft sensitive hairs on the back of Chaz's neck. He found it hard to focus on Wren's words anymore, the more complicated they became the harder it was to pin them down in his mind and understand them. They tended to turn to mush, or just the nice pleasant murmur of the android's voice.

"You _thought_ about things like these?" Chaz smiled, fidgeting in his spot as much as restriction would allow. There was a perverse sense of triumph in seeing a normally innocent person stumbling down into something more mortal than they were accustomed to, something devious and dirty. To know that _he_ was the one able to control Wren as easily as this and to coax him into doing anything that he wanted. It was a sort of power he hadn't asked for but still found delightfully interesting. It was better than being typical old Chaz, always afraid and unable to understand anything. At least with Wren he never felt bad about himself, not anymore.

"It is your fault, Chaz. You should accept the consequences of your actions." Wren intoned defensively, yet he didn't seem very ruffled by Chaz's accusation. He pointed at Chaz, or in particular a certain part of Chaz, letting go of the boy's wrist. "Is that what I think it is?" He asked.

It was like there was a faint dotted line starting from the tip of Wren's finger to the tip of, well… to the pretty noticeable bulge in Chaz Ashley's pants. The hunter broke out in a prickly sweat when he realised that his friend could see it, for he was as sober as a priest on Sunday and all of his inhibitions were in place. They were loose, but still there. "I can't help it," Chaz pleaded self-consciously, "you just turn me on. I'm sorry, but that stuff you said yesterday morning, do you still mean it? All of it?"

He knew what Chaz was referring to. "Yes." He said.

Leaning closer to the object of his desire, the blond palman's volume dropped down a notch, to a low whisper. "If I asked you to finish what you started, would you do it?"

There was no way that he could let Chaz get the better of him, give the youth any idea that he was just a puppet that could be controlled. There was electricity, sheer chemistry in the air. Wren looked deeply into Chaz's dangerously green eyes and understood just how badly the boy wanted to be needed by somebody, by _anybody_, before it drove him insane. He couldn't lead his small band of warriors into the den of evil without coming to terms with himself, first. Wren also could not leave Chaz hanging in limbo any longer. If that was what he wanted, then that was what he would get.

Real anticipation, real acceptance, and real devotion. Wren parodied his own manner of speaking.

"Affirmative. Order received. Come here Chaz, and don't be afraid…"

xxx

"Hey, are you still awake? Do you know what the time is?" Chaz Ashley was curled up in bed, buried in blankets, and the wax candle he had brought into the room with him earlier had long since extinguished itself. His night vision had improved significantly since the lights had gone out yet it was impossible for the boy to read the numbers of the analog clock hanging upon the wall. It was too dark. His bed was warm and cozy, just so damn comfortable, but aside from dozing he had yet to fall asleep.

"It is several minutes past midnight." Wren answered from where he was sitting down on the floor, leaning slightly against Chaz's bed. He could be comfortable practically anywhere so he didn't mind sitting on the floor, where he could be significantly closer to Chaz. It had been a few hours since they had both settled down over there, and every so often the blond palman would creep an arm out of his blankets just to check that his android friend was still there. It was endearing. Wren liked it.

Two hours earlier Rika alone had climbed up the stairs to the second floor and went to her room, not bothering to check on Chaz, Wren, or the currently missing-in-action Rune. They had listened to her moving about through the door silently, but that was pretty hard not to do as she was making so much noise when compared to the total silence of the world around them. Rika could make herself as soundless as the wind whenever she wanted, but at this time of night when she was obviously tired what was the point?

So Rune and Kyra had yet to show themselves. "I'm getting worried." Chaz admitted quietly and Wren needed no explanation as to what he meant. To defeat a magic-user they would need healthy, focussed magic-users of their own. Chaz's offensive techniques were impressive but they didn't hold a candle to real, true esper magic. He scooted closer to his friend and wrapped an arm about the android's front, tenderly. "Tell me that they're okay."

"They are okay."

Chaz snorted a little, amused. Wren was too literal sometimes, but the extra bit of assurance actually made the boy feel better. It seemed like here, in this quiet room with the sunrise so far away and his friend so close beside him nothing bad would ever happen again. Tomorrow was coming eventually, but not right now. "I'm sleepy. I don't think I can wait up for much longer." Chaz urged away a yawn by the power of his own will. "Are you going to go to sleep or whatever it is that you do tonight, Wren?"

"Probably not. I will wait up for them for you, so try to get some rest." Wren advised and Chaz nodded a little, relaxing himself enough to drop off to sleep. He would have done this in just under a couple of minutes had Wren not spoken again, thoughtfully. Something pretty trivial had been on his mind for a few weeks and now was as good a time as any for him to get it off his chest. Now that they were lovers he should be able to tell the boy anything. "Chaz, the title Wren isn't really my name. It is incorrect."

That came as a bit of a shock to Chaz, but the hunter made a soft noise beside him to tell the android that he was listening. "The word wren is just my series name, which would be equivalent to your racial name. When I first met Rika, Rune and yourself I did not expect anything other than a casual acquaintance, so I did not want to complicate matters with unnecessary details. Long ago in the Motavian military, we all carried the same name. I am still fighting in this millennium not because others bade me to, but because I, myself, wish to. I want to continue fighting as an individual, if I can."

Why was it that the android only ever wanted to talk about himself when they were locked into a hopeless situation, or when Chaz was too tired to pay attention properly? It was like he wasn't certain that he should talk about himself at all, so he hoped that his words would soon be forgotten. Chaz tightened his hold on his friend and sighed. Wren would always be Wren to him now, he couldn't change himself solely by admitting his true name. Actually it was sort of exciting, like something out of one of the secret agent novels that Alys had used to read. "So what's your _real_ name? Tell me. You can trust me." Chaz cooed, pressing his cheek gently against the side of Wren's neck.

It really wasn't that big of a deal, but the way that Chaz asked for the information made it sound like it was. He might as well play along with the fantasy, and Chaz seemed to enjoy keeping secrets. "It is Forren, a truncation of Fortress Wren. That is my technical name." Not that it made much difference in the overall scheme of things. Chaz didn't reply to him for a minute or two, he hadn't fallen asleep because his breathing pattern had not changed, but he had gone totally silent. Wren tried to stimulate the conversation again, turning it in a different direction if he needed to. "…Do you think that we will survive the Air Castle?" He asked.

Chaz retracted his arm from his charmingly cute lover, his smile hidden within the darkness. "I think we can, especially if we have a fortress on our side. I won't tell anybody about your real name. It can be our little secret, just between the two of us, okay?" He sensed Wren nod beside him. Chaz felt completely in control of the situation for once and that that went for both his role as leader and the mischievous leanings of his heart. "As for the Air Castle I think we can win, provided we trust each other and work as a team. I have faith in everyone."

"I will protect everybody as well as I am able." Wren vowed with the quiet yet iron-willed determination that he always held. This was what he said, though what he _truly_ wished to say was; 'I will protect **_you_** as well as I am able'.

Regardless of what he had said the blond palman easily picked up on Wren's underlying meaning. He understood. "Come here." Chaz ordered warmly and Wren obeyed him, knowing what he wanted already, the two travelers from distant worlds easily finding each other in the dark. Their lips met after a second and it was good, sweet, timeless. Chaz tasted salt, a faint bitterness in Wren's mouth that emphasized the soft sweetness of the experience. It baffled him for a moment before he realized what it was. He was tasting himself on Wren's tongue, vague traces from their experiences before.

It did not bother him nearly as much as he thought it would. Chaz pulled away and settled himself down again for the night. He was happy. He hoped that it would last. "Goodnight Forren." He whispered, laying his head down against the pillow.

"Goodnight Chaz." Came the echoing reply, and for the next six quiet uneventful hours, all was right with the world.


	16. Another Day

(A/N: I have a feeling that the next chapter of this fic is going to be pretty bloody violent. We had romance in the last chapter, a little more in this one, and then I FINALLY get around to adding Lassic to the fic! I've been looking forward to this! For now though, this small chapter is just a lull between two very important plot-points. Hope you guys are still enjoying this.)

Just as he had anticipated the night before, Chaz woke up to his inn room alone. It was early morning and the sun's pale rays had barely even tempered the overhanging clouds a pearlier white, yet all of Rune's things had already been packed up and moved out of the room. Chaz was a bit of a heavy sleeper and wasn't very surprised at this. He sat up in bed, stretched, yawned, and silently gave thanks to the idea that he was still alive to enjoy the morning at all. His previous battles had placed him here and another was scheduled for today. He hadn't forgotten.

On the whole Chaz felt great. He remembered the night beforehand with a knowing smile. It was embarrassing to look back on but he had no regrets to what he had done, or what he had allowed to be done to him. The hunter groggily pushed himself to the washroom where he showered and changed his clothes, deeply thankful for the hot water on such a cold Dezorian morning. The inn was alive with activity, not only from Chaz's own company but with other travelers passing through Meese, along with an occasional healthy refugee from the contaminated town of Reshel.

Preparations to leave for the Air Castle had been long underway before Chaz had begun to stir. Rune had slunk back to the inn at daybreak with Kyra in tow, their arms linked together like very good friends, or maybe something more. The both of them were happy, were smiling, and neither of them were tired in the least. They had slept well that night, though the where and how will not be further discussed here. The green-haired esper named Eugene was nowhere to be seen, and anybody with imagination could formulate a conclusion from that.

Rune had gone to get his things while Kyra had freshened up a little and he was surprised to find Chaz and Wren both asleep and inactive in his room. Well, the part concerning Chaz he had expected because the blond swordsman had been his roommate for a couple of months now, but discovering Wren there as well had been kind of odd. It was that particular sort of oddness that reminded the esper of what he had seen yesterday. How could he even _consider_ the idea of something that weird?

He couldn't, not really, but then again maybe he could. He was the two-thousand year old Lutz and he had seen and heard of stranger things before. Not _much_ stranger, mind you, but strange enough.

The android had told Chaz that he wasn't planning on becoming inactive that night, but sometimes it just tended to happen by itself, especially when he wasn't doing anything more strenuous than waiting and thinking. Wren appeared to be sleeping serenely until Rune kicked him a couple of times to wake him up. "Come on, no sleep-ins today! There's lots of stuff to be done! Wake up!" He cajoled, each exclamation becoming punctuated with a nudging kick.

Wren was fully alert by the third strike. He looked up at the esper leaning over him like this was an extremely common occurrence and replied, smoothly; "Kindly remove your foot from my shoulder, please." He pushed Rune away and scanned the room. It was clearly daytime now. Time had managed to slip away from him, and Wren had forgotten to set himself a reactivation date because he had not planned on slipping away in the first place. The result was that he had overslept. "Keep your voice down. Chaz is still sleeping." He cautioned the esper as he stood, attaining his full height.

Rune had glanced to their young leader, laying there like he hadn't a care in the world. In only a matter of hours the palman boy's destiny might see him resting at the bottom of an open grave. Not if Rune could help it. They'd have to wake up Chaz soon but for now the boy could continue to sleep. "You have a good night last night?" He asked Wren as he turned and got down to the task of quietly packing up his stuff. Rune was a seasoned minimalist traveler, so aside from his books there wasn't much to take.

"You could say that." Wren answered reflectively while also looking at Chaz. There was indeed much to be done, specifically at the ice digger, but there was no dire rush and it was still early in the morning. Wren was content to take a few moments to talk to Rune while there was time to spare. He felt himself in a remarkably good mood even if he did not openly show it. Chaz had wanted him last night, had really truly _wanted_ him, more than Rika, more than anybody else. He had always been needed in the Algo star system all the time, but never once had he ever actually been wanted selfishly before. It had felt great. There was no way that feeling could ever be duplicated again, he thought.

The esper grinned as he tossed his spare clothes into a bag. "I had a pretty fantastic night myself. I feel like I could take on the world and then some! Monsters, mages, Lassic, whatever! Bring 'em on!" Rune cleared out the cache of dirty tissues from yesterday that had been hiding under his bed. He didn't feel sick at all, so the thing he had the day before must have been no more than a twenty-four hour bug. It was just as well - his magic didn't want to work right when his voice was all clogged up.

"I am glad for you. I will go and prepare the ice digger for departure now." Wren said respectfully and headed for the door. He wasn't going to be leaving so easily though, as Rune had other thoughts on his mind.

"Hold on a minute." Rune urged, straightening up from packing away his inventory. Wren halted as if he had been given a strict order, looking over his shoulder at his friend. The esper was not going to be interrogative with him, but he _was_ going to be frank. It was like he had some kind of sick curiosity that needed to be fulfilled. Maybe it was just Rune's instinctive desire to want to know everything, but he _had_ to figure out what he had seen. Had he really witnessed that kiss, or had that been his mind playing tricks on him? He wasn't certain.

"Do you… uh, do you like Chaz?" Every little word that crawled out of Rune's mouth made his idea seem even more ludicrous than earlier. Wren had been standing there looking blank, like a doll, and it was just so dumb to pin palman emotions onto a unit of machinery, no matter _how_ advanced they were. And yet, that sort of reasoning didn't erase the image of Wren kissing Chaz from his memory. He couldn't just force it away and if he really _was_ Chaz's guardian as Alys had willed it then Rune had a responsibility to protect the little brat. Not just from biomonsters, but from _anything_ that could hurt him.

Rune was surprised to see that the android actually appeared to be slightly shocked. Wren hadn't thought that anybody was aware of him and Chaz, and if Rune knew anything about the night they had shared then it would be all over for them. Chaz did not need the embarrassment right now, not on a day like today. Wren turned to face the esper, looked to the side and scrambled to find what to say. He would not tell a lie. He would tell the truth and hopefully Rune would believe only one of its connotations.

Wren played the innocent card, which could also be interpreted as the stupid card. It was simply amazing just how quickly he was beginning to interpret palman thought patterns. "Of course I like Chaz." He replied blithely, smiling. "What reason do I have not to? He is an exceptional swordsman and a satisfactory leader." The sleeping boy was totally oblivious to the praise. He had no idea just how close he was to being found out.

That wasn't what Rune had meant. He wasn't sure if Wren was intentionally misleading him or if he truly didn't understand what Rune was getting at. All machines were innocent to the idea of 'like', yet the esper did not really know that he was speaking to the one android who was exempt from that rule. Wren was quite convincing at feigning ignorance so Rune just decided to give up on the subject altogether. What he saw must have been his imagination. It had to have been.

Anyway, Chaz had no knowledge of this little bit of suspicious interaction. To him, everything seemed to be getting better and he was happy. After his shower Chaz went downstairs to grab himself some breakfast and met Rika at the table, fussily adjusting the length of her claws. The hunter took a seat next to her and watched with interest. They were weapons sharper than his own sword and knives, gliding through flesh that usually needed to be hewn, a three-pronged scalpel that became like an extension of her body…

"What are you staring at me for?" Rika eventually asked and snapped Chaz out of his reverie. Whenever anybody stared at her she automatically felt self-conscious. Chaz was not like any of the people they had passed in their travels, who cast silent glances at her and each other regarding her strange ears, but she liked the boy and worried over what he thought of her. Soon, she reminded herself, soon she would have to tell Chaz everything. But not now. Not until after Lassic was defeated.

"Oh, I was just wondering if Lassic anticipates being torn to bloody shreds." Chaz admitted as he poured himself some cereal. He was just about to reach for the milk when Kyra crept up behind him like a phantom and put Chaz in a playful headlock, making the boy squawk. Just like Rune Kyra seemed back to her old self again and grinned as Chas wriggled in her arms.

"What he's _really_ thinking about is confessing his eternal love for you! It's so sweet, right out of a romance tale. That's the reason why he stares!" She announced cheerfully. Chaz went bright red and Rika blushed a little herself, but the first thing that Chaz thought to do was to deny it. Kyra's impish accusation was right on the money but it was more complicated than that. There were Chaz's feelings to get through first, Rika's too, and now also the feelings of a completely unrelated person, Wren. Even so, Kyra had sensed Chaz's growing attraction to somebody in their party and had jumped to the conclusion that it was the numan girl. She was trying her best to bring them together as covertly as possible.

So now everybody was, in some way or another, tied to Chaz's deep affection for Rika and his illicit affair with Wren. It seemed so likely that eventually there would be a slip and all of it would fall apart, but that time was not now. On this morning everything was good and happy, and Chaz could take a joke. "D-Don't be ridiculous! I was just thinking!" He exclaimed, jerking his shoulders away from Kyra and forcing her to let go. The blue-haired girl laughed at Chaz's indignation but turned away when Rune strode into the room, pulling on his black velvet gloves. It all made sense now, the Lutz must have been influencing Kyra to pick on him. He never got a break.

Rika wished that Chaz didn't have to deny an idea like that so vehemently. It would have been nice for him to demur softly or not to say anything at all, then maybe she could continue to tell herself that Chaz _might_ like her, that she still had a chance with him. She really wanted to know the name of the floozy he had hooked up with, just to see what she was up against, but she was afraid that she'd be no match at all against her. Rika said nothing, she just continued to fiddle with her claws in a less energetic way.

"Chaz is _thinking_? Have all the planets and space stations aligned or something?" Rune smirked in his own special way, walking over to Kyra so he could loom over Chaz. Rune liked to loom over Chaz. It was one of the easiest ways to tick the boy off, but the hunter had already gone back to his cereal peacefully. Rune wasn't going to provoke him so easily today. Both espers looked at one another and smiled. In a secret move that nobody else saw Rune and Kyra joined hands. It was rather cute. "So what did you do last night, shorty? I hope you went over your techniques thoroughly, or were you too sick for that?" He asked.

"'Didn't think to do it. Wren and I played some chess for awhile then we went to bed. I was tired." That lie came remarkably easily to him, as if he had pre-determined it in the night. However, mentioning anything at all of last night whether it be true or merely covering up the truth left a strange hot feeling nestled between his ribs. It was a pleasant sensation, the hunter finally having a secret worth keeping, worth protecting. Chaz turned in his seat to look at Rune. "You don't seem very hung over. Didn't you go to the bar?"

Rune definitely looked like he was hiding something too. "Nope, I didn't. I had other things to do. Mostly I didn't want to turn up this morning feeling like crap. I want to give Lassic the full attention he deserves." Chaz was relieved to hear that. He had been worried about the esper yesterday evening before that worry had been totally stolen out of his mind.

They were all present now except for Wren, and he was the one person Chaz wanted to see the most. Perhaps for a physical confirmation that everything that had happened was real, and if it was, he wanted to make sure that his friend was alright. Wren was always the first one working and the last one to finish said work, so Chaz wasn't very anxious. He could be patient when he wanted to be. Sometimes. "Where's Wren?" Chaz asked casually to the two espers who had just taken seats at the table. Okay, so maybe he wasn't _that_ patient after all.

Instead of Rune or Kyra answering Rika piped up. Kyra was too busy fixing up her short hair and circlet while Rune was hungrily eyeing the strips of bacon on the table, just out of his reach. "He's out back." The numan girl said happily, covering up her mild case of the blues with a kind smile. "The innkeeper's wife borrowed him for some menial tasks. He said that he didn't mind. The ice digger's already warmed up outside the town. We were kind of waiting for you, Chaz."

"I'm glad you guys didn't decide to leave without me." Chaz joked as he stood up from his seat. Looking at Rika he noticed something he had completely missed up until now, an item that the previous Chaz Ashley would have spotted within a heartbeat. Rika was wearing a white flower in her hair. So delicate and astonishingly fragile, it made her look lovely. Although it was hardly appropriate for battle gear he still thought it was nice.

Rika caught Chaz staring and was pleased. She tilted her head slightly to draw attention to the flower. "Do you like it? I gave Raja a bunch of these blossoms last night as a get-well present but he gave one back to me to wear when we fight in the Air Castle. He even gave it a blessing, and said that it meant he would be there with us even if he is sick in bed. Even if…" Her smile faded from both her lips and her eyes. "Even if he is dead. Raja's being incredibly optimistic about things but I think a deeper part of his isn't so confident. He hasn't got much time left in him."

There was a prolonged silence all throughout the breakfast table. It threatened to strangle any further conversation. Rune coughed, then the corner of his mouth turned up a little as he had a thought. "If that happens then the old kook would be waiting for Lassic in the afterlife with an eternity of bad jokes to tell."

The pink-haired girl glanced at Rune as if he had already told the worst and most tactless joke in the world already. She wasn't sure if she should scold him or hit him for such a remark. Raja was their friend. It just wasn't right to joke about his death like that.

Suddenly Kyra started to giggle, her imagination picturing a translucent Raja with small wings and a halo waiting for Lassic at the entrance of purgatory with a mammoth book of jokes in his arms. She didn't really know the dezorian priest that well, as he had fallen ill right before she had joined their team, but the visits to his bedside had been enough to weave a bright tapestry about his personality. Kyra laughed, Rune joined in too, and then finally Chaz. "The three of you are terrible." Rika said in a disapproving tone, but she guessed she could see why the others found it funny.

Chaz excused himself from the breakfast table after he had finished eating and left for the back door, passing a dezorian hunter and his sister who were quietly reading the paper together. The door was of course unlocked and led into the backyard, not that the citizens of Meese invested in anything as pointless as fences in what was apparently a very efficient commune. On such a harsh planet people trusted one another more. They simply had no choice. The hunter nearly bumped into the innkeeper's wife who was sitting on the steps, enjoying a nice cup of coffee. Steam rose from the liquid in thick, inviting streamers.

Wren had been conned into splitting firewood for the woman after all his other tasks had been completed. His basic function was to serve people so he didn't mind doing extra work - he was useless when idle anyway. The woman he was helping was not physically strong and with her partner away at the healing house all the jobs that required manual labor had begun to pile up. Wren liked to help. It would kill time until they needed to go.

"Good morning Mr. Ashley. You're looking well today." Said the woman brightly, glancing up at the boy. Chaz had rarely been called that before and it made him feel weird, like an old man. The innkeeper's wife wasn't especially old either, in her early thirties perhaps, and there was a sort of suggestion that she may have been very pretty once, a decade ago. "I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your friend. He seems like the hardworking type. Are you going soon?"

"Yeah, in a bit. Wren! Come on, let's get going!" Chaz said, calling out to his friend who wasn't very far away. The android heard Chaz's voice and put down the tool he was using, planting the low-grade laconia hatchet back into the cutting block. Their eyes met over the short distance and nothing particularly special happened, but Chaz could guess that Wren might have been worried over how he felt, just as he was feeling for Wren. An unspoken exchange seemed to pass between them, something that would have sounded like; _'Are we both okay?' 'Yes, I think so.'_

The woman sitting on the steps could tell that she was intruding on something in some way, so she did what any good innkeeper was wont to do. "I had better get back to my chores now." She announced in an amused fashion, flinging the remainders of her coffee out onto the snow, causing a patch of it to melt. Chaz moved away to give her room to stand and reenter the house, the woman yawning as she left.

While walking towards the entrance of the inn Wren was tempted to tell Chaz that he suspected Rune knew something about them, but the boy looked so happy this morning and he didn't want to take that happiness away from him. Perhaps he'd mention it later when they were not on the verge of risking their lives. He stopped in front of Chaz, awaiting further orders. The hunter just continued to look at him appraisingly, smiling slightly. Maybe Chaz wanted him to say something first? "Regarding last night…" Wren started to explain as he took Chaz's hand, but then he couldn't think of a proper way to complete that sentence. He had been dwelling on it all morning, but hell, now any answers were gone.

One thing that really got to the boy was just how gentle Wren was when he chose to be. The same metal-plated hand that had bent steel and smashed through solid stone was now gripping his own so carefully, so softly. Wren was handsome, intelligent and kind, all the traits that were important in a person. If Chaz wasn't careful he feared that he might get in too deep with his friend, but as time and events continued to change he found that he didn't care anymore. "Regarding last night I've made up my mind." He said as surely as he was able.

"What do you mean by that?" The hunter seemed like he was comfortable in the role of the decision-maker. Chaz was leader material and he would have expected nothing less, Wren guessed, though it had felt good to take a step forward in their relationship of his own volition. It made Wren feel more… real. Realer than he had ever been, it felt.

Chaz's smile widened. He didn't need to say anything at all to convey how he felt, it would be self-evident. The boy moved towards Wren and put his arms around him as well as he could, surprised at how the armor didn't feel cold, and rested his head against Wren's chest. Nobody was watching them, the others were inside, so they had no reason to fear. Chaz sensed his friend hesitate for a few moments, then an arm slipped about his waist, Wren's other hand coming up to support the back of the swordsman's head, fingers running through the short blond hair. Chaz closed his eyes, content.

They remained that way for a considerable amount of time, until something tiny and incredibly cold froze the tip of Chaz's nose. The shock of sensation jolted the boy right out of the comfortable daydream he was in, green eyes going cross-eyed in an attempt to see the little snowflake that had startled him so. More flecks of white fluffy ice were falling all around them as well. "It's snowing." Chaz said absently, watching them drop to the ground.

"It frequently snows on Dezoris, Chaz." Wren declared dryly, but he wasn't just being overly informative. The android was beginning to pick up on sarcasm along with a myriad of other things, both decent and indecent. Chaz broke the hug and stepped away from him, folding his arms. His smile became lopsided, mischievous. Hearing that kind of sarcasm was a triumph for him. "You have snow on your… right here…" Wren said softly and then wiped it away with a thumb, brushing it down the bridge of Chaz's nose.

He supposed that he was a sucker for all the little gestures that made a relationship worthwhile. Chaz felt his cheeks heat up as his lover touched him again, gently. He liked it, but they hadn't the time to get caught up in this stuff all over again. They had an evil ex-king to slay and the others would be waiting for them inside. They were already running rather late as it was. "Let's get back to our mission, Forren." He said, a little unwillingly. For now it was time to don the guise of professionalism and leave their personal lives behind.

He had anticipated hearing that. Wren knew even more than Chaz what was currently at stake. Instead of saying 'affirmative' or 'understood' Wren just replied with a; "Yes, I know," and withdrew his hand, walking back into the house to meet up with their friends. Too much of a good thing was dangerous. Any more private moments, private endeavors and they would be caught out, if they hadn't been already.

Truthfully Chaz was pretty anxious to get back into battle again. He had to protect everybody in the world, his friends, his allies, and now his lover too. The Light knew that he wouldn't place a very high priority on his own life, as he had seen in their last trip through the Air Castle. He didn't know what he'd do if anything ever happened to Wren.

Little did he know that what he felt was, just maybe, and it explained _everything_, the very first semblance of real love.


	17. Conversations In Motion

(A/N: Why do I pace so sloowly? Arghibibble…)

The team passed through the town of Meese together on their way to the ice digger left idling outside the village limits, walking single file, some wondering if they were marching off to their deaths. It wasn't an exceptionally new thing they were feeling, most of them had felt the same cold, girdling belt about their stomachs as they had navigated their way through Nurvus to find Zio, or had braved the madness-bent machines of Kuran to exterminate Dark Force. Chaz in particular thought that he should have gotten used to the feeling by now, but there was no getting used to the fear of death; it would haunt Chaz in all the moments of danger for the rest of his life.

Alys had taught him that there was no shame in feeling fear, that everybody got afraid once in awhile. Alys in her strong words, her proud statue she spoke of the importance and trial of experiencing fear. To rise up against a foe and stand immovable with no fear in your heart was true bravery. There was pride in bravery, but to rise up against a foe and stand immovable with terror clawing at your heart and your knees shaking was true courage. Bravery did indeed have pride, but courage bore honor.

It was rare to see pure displays of bravery anymore. Chaz for one was terrified every time a gigantic biomonster lumbered its way towards him in the field, or whenever he considered the idea that he and his party were Algo's only chance for salvation. If they fell then Algo was doomed, the tens of thousands of people in their worlds would be doomed. But courage was being really, truly afraid of something and doing it anyway. Chaz marched on, between Rika and Rune.

Rika's lovely pink hair was becoming snow-encrusted already. He was watching it wave to and fro as she walked in front of him, and because the numan girl was a little taller than he Chaz wanted to reach up and shake the snowflakes away. She would jump though, if he touched her, and then he'd have to try and explain his actions somehow. Chaz kind of wished that he was a little taller. If he had the height to look down on her than maybe he'd also have the confidence to tell her how he felt. The hunter frowned slightly. A week or two ago he had had this pre-rehearsed speech in his head detailing exactly how he felt about her, but now he couldn't quite remember how it went.

This was very odd because he had gone over it _so_ many times, almost _ad infinitum_. A lot of things were on his mind right now, like the magician Lassic, so maybe he needed to focus on that first. The day was cold, the air crisp like a thin-shaven icicle, and soon enough, half a day away he'd have the full length of his laconia sword jammed straight into Lassic's bleeding ribcage. Optimism was the key!

"How long do you think it should take to reach the Air Castle?" Rune asked from near the back of the line, between Chaz and Kyra. He wanted to stick close to the esper girl and make sure that she remained okay. Kyra was young and new to this whole 'battle against the darkness' thing, which made it his responsibility as her spiritual leader to show her the way. There were more reasons, ones that they other three would never know about too.

"If conditions remain optimal I'd say about seven to eight hours." Wren answered from the front of the marching order, using a strange mix of his usual big words in an unusually relaxed manner. It was just a matter of retracing their tracks back to the Tyler spaceport and taking the Landale from there. Rune groaned anyway from the large expression of time, most of which would be spent in boredom. It was the awful hidden secret of the adventurer. For every five minutes of adrenaline-pumping crazed action, there were a dozen hours of endless slogging and impatience, lonely sentry duties and wasted time.

As they passed by the entrance to the healing house someone threw the main doors open. The green-haired esper from the day earlier stepped out of the building, somebody who Kyra knew personally. "Eugene!" She exclaimed with surprise, and Rune subconsciously moved in front of Kyra to block her from his view. Eugene didn't seem to be paying any special kind of attention to Kyra however, he looked to Chaz and his company as one.

He was slightly out of wind and frazzled, watching the small group of warriors stop before him. "Ah, thank the Light you guys are still here! I thought we might have missed you! Then I'd never hear the end of it." He laughed breathlessly.

"What do you want?" Rune demanded, wary.

Eugene picked Chaz out as the leader and addressed him instead. He didn't really understand _how_ he knew that Chaz was their leader, he just did. The boy looked interested in what he had to say but was also impatient to go. Well, they couldn't leave until his job was done. "I have something for you." He said mysteriously, stepping out of the doorway and into the snow, to the side. "We organised it this morning. If you're going on a journey then somebody wants to say goodbye to you."

Three people shuffled into the doorway. Two were the blonde twin nurses from the second floor, the lovely Johari and Nohari, and the third, supported by the nurses and also leaning on a cane, was Raja. He looked so excessively old now, bent over like a hunchback and relying on those supports, but it was Raja and he was out of bed, alive. The dezorian priest raised his head to look at his friends and grinned weakly. The smile was that of a mischievous joker, braving the odds.

"Raja…" Rika said in amazement, but her eyes were filled with concern. The nurses seemed like they could handle him okay, but to the five adventurers about to go and battle the darkness again Raja looked like he was a leaf about to blow over.

The priest's words were rough, yet warm. "I just came to wish you all luck and stretch my legs a bit. I was getting sick and tired of that old bed. Come back once you've pulled down the Garuberk tower and I'll dance a jig for you, hornpipe and all." Raja raised a long-fingered hand to his mouth and coughed, his whole body trembling. The nurses each kept an eye on him, perhaps judging when to guide him away from his friends. It was too cold for his blighted body outside of the healing house, out in the ice and snow.

Chaz spoke for all of them and made his voice strong. He could do this easier now knowing that people believed in him and were trusting him too. Here was Raja as well, willing to toss his priestly belief onto the pile. It was amazing how much of a difference unity could make. "I promise you that we'll do our best. We'll die trying, if we have to."

Raja stopped smiling. "Don't say things like that, boy. Life's too precious to just throw away. You do your best, just as you say, but don't you dare get your fool selves killed. I'll be praying for you all the same. Rika," he focussed on the numan girl who looked back at him dutifully, "remember that when the chips are down and you need faith the most, you remember that I'm praying for ya. Right?"

She understood him well, nodding resolutely. Raja seemed satisfied with that. He sighed tiredly and all the rebellion flowed out of his body, leaving a sick old man behind. He so dearly wanted to be part of the fight and struggle itself, like when they had fought ruthlessly on Kuran, but that just didn't seem to be in the cards today. "Alright," Raja sighed with great resignation, "off you go then. I'm going back to my bed now. Coming downstairs completely wiped me out. Lovely ladies, take me home."

The old man grinned again as he finished speaking, letting his twin nurses lead him away. Raja was still the devious lecher, if only for the amusement and fun. Rika looked so saddened as she watched him leave. She feared that just maybe, if they did not move fast enough she would lose an adopted grandfather. She couldn't stand to see any more sacrificed people in her life, not after Seed, and not after Alys.

The esper Eugene went to follow the nurses and their patient but he stopped himself before he went inside. He studied Rune very carefully, as if he were sizing him up for their next great task. The Lutz tried to take the examination in silent stride. "Um… Rune? I don't know you that well and I probably have no idea about what you guys will be up against, but you have to promise me something before you go. Promise me that you'll take care of Kyra, that you won't let anything bad happen to her. She means the world to me."

Kyra appeared horrified by this honest admission and stuck her tongue out childishly at Eugene, blowing him a reasonably wet raspberry. She knew that she wasn't a weakling and she could take care of herself. Kyra really _did_ like the Lutz standing beside her a little more than was considered proper, but she wanted him as a friend and companion, not as some haughty guardian. Rune however seemed to consider the plea seriously. He had been planning on doing that anyway so there was no problem. "Yeah, okay." He agreed at last with a casual half nodding of his head.

Chaz snickered impishly and made a long drawn-out; "Oooooooo…" sound to Rune and Kyra, grinning like a brat, before Rune took annoyed offence to that and whacked the boy over the head with his staff. The magician looked none too amused but the sound of Chaz whimpering in mild pain set him right again. The green-haired man bowed to the party and took his leave, getting back to the duties of managing all the espers in the healing house.

"What is the correlation between that esper and Kyra anyway?" Wren asked politely to no one in particular as the door clicked closed, addressing the question to the air. He had wanted to know the answer the night before but Kyra hadn't been around to reply.

"Oh, I didn't tell any of you?" The girl inquired with a surprised look on her face. She could have sworn that she had, but maybe she had assumed the others just knew already. That was one of the big problems with being a gossip at heart, it was hard to keep track of all the information passing by. Kyra touched the tip of her index finger to her chin as she thought. "Eugene is my oldest childhood friend. We've known each other since before we could even talk. A long time ago we were supposed to be arranged to be married, but we both thought it was the stupidest idea in the world. I love him, but not in _that_ way. Ugh, that would be just like dating your big brother!"

She began to laugh. Oh, so _that_ was why Rune seemed so much more laid-back when compared to last night. Chaz would have found it to be very cute if it had been anybody other than Rune. The hunter wanted to say something witty and sharp to his magician friend but if he did he was certain he'd get another whack to the back of the head. He kind of didn't need a headache or brain damage today. "Now's your chance Rune, go for it!" He settled for instead.

But that race had already been run and judged long ago. Rune didn't take the bait, he just smirked smugly at his leader from his place standing in the snow. Meanwhile Rika was rubbing her arms briskly, trying to garner heat back into them. "Can we go to the ice digger now? I just keep having this awful idea that somebody from the town is going to stumble upon it and then take it for a joyride. Besides, I'm freezing."

"Yes, lets all talk about Rune later." Wren agreed innocently and went off into the snow by himself, trusting that the others would follow him on their own. Maybe he hadn't really phrased himself properly, because Rune looked pissed off all of a sudden and let out one short burst of; 'What the hell does _that_ mean?', before following the wren-type close behind. He didn't like the idea of people talking about him behind his back. Who knew what they would be saying? Rune was well acquainted with an information monger in training, so he knew. Wren didn't seem to notice Rune fuming though, like he was off in his own happy little world.

Kyra started after them a few seconds later, a cheerful smile on her face masking the choreography of the butterflies in her stomach. With Eugene's blessing and Rune's reassuring presence she reckoned that she would be safe. This left only Chaz and Rike now standing side-by-side, watching the rest of their friends moving away. It wasn't often that they got to be close like that, even for just a moment or two. There had always been somebody nearby, like Rune complaining that he was getting sick of dried food or Wren cleaning and reassembling his weapon quietly, yet watchfully. One of the downsides to living in a group, Chaz guessed.

The hunter and the numan girl looked at one another shyly, each having something very important to say, but in a testament to bad conversation skills and timing they both blurted out the beginning of their sentences at exactly the same time, drowning each other out. There was a two second pause and then they both laughed, with Rika blushing just the slightest bit. "I'm sorry, what were you gonna say?" Chaz asked politely to make up for his interruption. Ladies went first, after all.

Rika hesitated, as if that interruption of her speaking her mind was a divine sign from above telling her to keep her mouth zipped shut. Chaz belonged to somebody now, she was told, and though it probably wasn't serious she would still cause a fuss if she said anything now. Besides, she needed to gather and sort out her thoughts before she stepped into the lion's den of the truth. "Um… I just wanted to ask you if we could have a good long talk after this business with Lassic is over with. That's all. It's not very serious or anything." She reassured him confidently, yet nervously under the surface.

"Sure, that sounds good to me. You can talk to me about anything you want, Rika. So long as you don't ask me any really difficult questions. I'm a little behind on my schoolwork right now." Chaz joked with a handsome smile. He wasn't as calm as he appeared, because _come on_, this was the woman he loved requesting time from him, but his experiences from the last couple of days had given him a newfound sense of confidence. Maybe he could talk to her then, tell her how he felt without feeling dopey and dizzy like an idiot and then passing out on the floor.

The girl looked very relieved. Things seemed better if Chaz really wanted to talk, instead of planning on spending time with _that other woman_. Just as Wren had said, it was possible that she might have a chance with him if she was honest and true. Smiling herself, Rika leant over and pecked Chaz sweetly on the cheek before running off to catch up with the others. "Thanks Chaz! Let's get going!" She called over her shoulder as she left.

Chaz stood there for several solitary moments, his hand on his cheek where Rika had kissed him. He honestly hadn't been expecting that, he could barely accept that it had happened in the first place. If the rest of the day went as smoothly as this morning seemed to be going then he would have nothing at all to worry about. He wondered what Rika wanted to discuss with him, but it probably pertained to what their plan would be when they finally entered the Garuberk tower. Chaz hadn't figured that out himself yet. Anyway, he had better get moving now before the others left him too far behind and before the hot rush flowing through his body melted the snow all around him.

The ice digger was warm and ready to go when Chaz and company got to the outskirts of Meese. The door had been left open but because of the direction of the wind no snow had managed to blow in, yet Rune had gotten an unpleasant surprise when he walked inside first. A snow fox darted out between his legs, the animal getting the hell out of the warm comfortable vehicle now that the predators had come back to their home. The sudden flash of white fur and where it was going startled Rune so much that he nearly fell off the ramp. Chaz laughed.

They backtracked all the way to Tyler and then passed it, heading toward the spaceport that was just a stone's throw away from the town. The trip took about three hours and they made pretty good time with no large interruptions, both outside the ice digger and inside with the passengers. Rika and Kyra had cleared a nice big open space in one of the vacant bunkers and had drawn a line right through the middle of the room with a piece of chalk, turning it into a pretty good handball court. They played with a ball that Kyra had made out of rubber, elastic and some snow mole pelt harvested from a dinner that had been caught one or two weeks ago.

It really was impossible for Kyra to beat Rika in that game, the numan girl was just too graceful and athletic to lose. She toyed with the ball like a curious cat all the while playing flawlessly. It didn't really matter though, as nobody was keeping score. Rune was supposed to be referee but it looked like he was meditating instead, and sometimes when somebody missed a serve and the ball came bouncing towards him Chaz threw it back without much thought.

After watching for about half an hour Chaz got bored with the repetitive game and decided to see how Wren was doing on the bridge. Rune was indisposed and the other two seemed to be having fun so they wouldn't miss him if he left. Chaz rose from where he was sitting and waved to the girls briefly to get their attention. "I'm gonna go keep Wren company for awhile. Come and call me when one of you gets tired and I'll take over your spot, alright?"

He heard two half-distracted affirmations as the girl hadn't stopped their game to listen to him, and with that Chaz left the room and walked up the short bare corridor to the bridge, trying not to yawn. It was still a few more hours until they switched vehicles and headed to the Air Castle directly.

Wren was in the driver's seat and navigating their way through the storm. Hopefully they'd steer clear from the snow worm and dezo owl colony this time. Chaz didn't introduce himself as he stepped inside and moved toward the driver's seat, leaning against it languidly. "Hi Forren. Everyone else seems to be pretty much occupied so I thought I'd come and bother you for awhile, at least until they call me back." He said with complete calm. Addressing Wren with that name felt a little odd, but he still enjoyed saying it nonetheless, mostly because nobody else ever would.

"That's a shame." Wren said softly from where he was sitting, reaching over to change gears without taking his eyes off the blinding white road. "A shame that you will be called back soon, that is." He added after he was done and placed his free hand back on the steering wheel. Chaz smiled a smile that could not possibly be expressed in words. The wren-type turned to look at the boy briefly. "What can I do for you while you are here?" He asked.

Chaz shrugged. "I dunno. I just wanted somebody to talk to while I kill time." And the more preoccupied he was the less he'd have to think about Lassic. Just being around Wren made him feel better now, safer and happier, so that was good too. "Do you think Rune and Kyra have something going on with each other? I get the feeling that I might not have been picking up on things like I should have. I just can't picture Rune being _nice_ to somebody without having his arm twisted behind his back."

"Then again," continued the young hunter as he looked up at the ceiling in thought, "I got the feeling that he might have had something going on with Alys a long time ago, too. The only time I ever saw her blush like, well, like a _normal_ girl was when she was talking to Rune. Alys used slashers just like Kyra. I wonder if there's a connection of some sort? Maybe he likes girls like that, but it just seems so _wrong_ to me to think of _anybody_ with Alys. She was my mother, not biologically of course, but she raised me and without her I'd probably be dead. You never got to meet Alys, did you Wren?"

"I regret that I never got to meet her, yes."

"That's too bad. I bet she would have liked you." Chaz announced, continuing to ramble on but it seemed like his ramblings were losing speed and were coming to a gradual end. "Alys always said that if I was to ever get involved with somebody it would have to be with a good strong woman who would always be able to protect me in battle. When she first said that I was so furious because I wanted to stand on my own and be great someday, but before I knew it, before I even _noticed_, I changed my mind. I don't even remember consciously doing it. Isn't that strange?" Chaz looked to his friend after he had finished talking and he was surprised to see how reserved he looked.

"You are referring to Rika, aren't you? I can agree that she does possess the qualities you are looking for." Wren answered in perfect monotone. One of the greatest things that had changed with the android recently was that he displayed complex emotions when he was fine now, and tended to go completely blank when he was not. Originally it had been the other way around, but Chaz knew now that he had said something stupid. He was aware that Wren was jealous of Rika, of his love for her, and there was nothing he could do to change it.

The boy slapped a hand over his mouth. "Oh Forren, I'm sorry. I said 'woman', didn't I? That's not what I meant. I mean, I was just repeating what Alys said to me sometimes. When I was referring to somebody who would protect me I was referring to you. I adore Rika, but Rika doesn't like me back. But you do, don't you?" Chaz leaned down a little so that he was at the same level as Wren. "Last night meant that I'm happy where I am, right now." He intoned.

"Ah, so you came here to tell me that. How much more self-validation do you need, Chaz?" Wren asked carefully.

And Chaz was very careful to answer slowly, himself. "No, that's not it. I don't need a reason to come to you for anything anymore. You're my lover now, I can waste as much time talking and hanging around you as I want. It's another part of what we're trying to create together. It's not supposed to be just about the things we do together, and the… um, the sex."

Wren smiled brightly, the change in his mood so great that it led Chaz to wonder if his previous sad look had just been an act all along. "I know that. Of course I know that. I am not as clueless as you sometimes think I am. Honestly I am just grateful for the company, whether it has a purpose or not, and I do acknowledge where you stand with Rika. It does not bother me anymore." He glanced at Chaz again, slyly. "You should try not to be so serious all the time." He said.

Chaz couldn't believe it. He had walked right into a trap. Wren had been testing Chaz's emotions and his own recreationally, for fun, to make conversation or both. He was like a child playing with a toy for the first time, experimenting with the range of all of its abilities. He was new to complex emotions, new to the feeling of like, but now that Chaz had accepted him totally for what he was he was free to utilize those emotions without the fear of hurting Chaz. It was so simplistic, so adorable, but he also didn't like being led around like that either. It made him want to kiss the wren-type and then slap him right after.

"You're saying I shouldn't be so serious? _You_ are saying that _I_ shouldn't be so serious." The blond hunter sighed and looked at his dark-haired friend fondly. "I should probably step outside, see if the world is ending or not."

"You will have to wait until we reach the Tyler spaceport before you can see if the world is ending or not. As it is, I am not stopping the ice digger for anybody or anything. Not since that last incident." Wren told him with firm resolution. That incident had been an awful turn for the worse but without it he and Wren might not have been where they were today. Chaz didn't know whether to look back on it with a smile or a shudder, but he thought the way that Wren totally overlooked his sarcasm while understanding it was cute.

"Forren, I just don't know what I'm going to do with you…" Chaz said licentiously as he leaned over to try and kiss Wren, just as he had done so two mornings ago. But this time he wouldn't be satisfied with Wren's clean tattooed cheek, this time Chaz wanted those warm soft lips for himself.

"I am sure we will be able to think of something by tomorrow night…" Wren replied as he checked if the ice digger had a good clear path ahead of it for awhile and then diverted his attention directly to Chaz. He reached up and grabbed the hunter's clothing at the upper arm, pulling the boy closer to him. Their lips were almost touching, their faces _so_ close, but then…

"Ch-aaaaz! I'm all tired now! You wanna come and finish Rika off for me? I've softened her up for yoooou!" Kyra practically yodeled from up the corridor, her loud voice traversing through the places where her legs were too tired to tread. It was lucky that Kyra hadn't run up to drag Chaz away in person, or she would have had a mighty grand and unexpected surprise.

The moment was lost. Chaz stopped what he was doing and bit his lip, uttering a very soft hissing "Damn it…" close to Wren's audio sensor. The hunter pulled away while the android let go of him and laid both of his hands back on the wheel. Wren also looked a little hot under the collar, as much as he could for what he was anyway, and Chaz scratched his nose with an apologetic smile on his face. "I'm sorry. I wish I was psychic so I could kill her with my mind." He admitted with a small laugh.

"C'mon Chaz! Hurry up! Or else everybody's gonna think you're chicken! Bwuk bwuk!" Kyra's call continued like a shrewd little song.

"It sounds urgent. I think you had better be going now. I will come and alert everybody once we have reached the spaceport." Wren promised from where he was sitting, focussed on driving the ice digger safely now. Looking back on it, what they had been about to do probably wouldn't have been very safe.

Chaz turned his head toward the corridor and shouted; "Alright, I'm coming!" then walked quickly toward the bunker where the others were waiting for him. He'd beat Rika all right, Rika and Kyra and Rune, anybody else who would dare stand in his way. Lassic too, if for some unexplainable reason the magician decided to turn up for the game as well.

Wren leant over from his chair and watched Chaz leave. "I must really be going mad…" He said to himself gently, just as the ice digger _did_ hit something, but it was only a poor innocent baby snow worm out for some fresh air, so that was okay. The treads just ran over it without fault.

Luckily Wren was alone. Nobody would know the truth.


	18. Mirror Of Illusion

(A/N: It's been five months since I last updated this story. I'm sorry, I've been updating my other fanfics instead. I know this chapter and the next one that comes after it deviates slightly from game canon, but the second Air Castle run is practically identical to the first and I wanted to spice up the plot a bit. I hope it's come out interesting and not too cliché. Also, for those people who are still reading after the five-month hiatus… I love you guys and _you_ are the ones I'm writing this for! Happy readings!)

Before Chaz and company knew it, they were back at the Air Castle. They had driven from Meese all the way to the Tyler spaceport, and from there the Landale shuttled them smoothly to the destroyed Palma's asteroid belt. The journey had taken many long, boring hours, but as soon as Wren had announced from the bridge that they would be touching down in ten minutes, suddenly all that time and waiting seemed mortifyingly short.

It was easy to find their old landing point. The enormous jets of the Landale had blackened the surface of the asteroid, leaving three gigantic burn points in the dust. There was nary a bump or a shudder as the ship was brought down, but Chaz and Rune, Rika and Kyra were too busy arming and armoring themselves to notice. Everything had to be perfect. If one little, singular thing went wrong it could mean the death of them all.

The Air Castle felt different to last time. Lassic's three servants were dead, his huge fortress left undefended. The castle was left with a palpable animosity, an anger, a hate so deep it had infected every stone and brick and stair. Lassic had let them play with his guardians freely, had given his domain air and gravity to accommodate their living bodies, but he had not expected his foes to slaughter the twisted dark espers so easily. He was like a arrogant braggart who had been certain of victory, only to taste the bitter sting of defeat.

But in that fury there was also eagerness, a deep sadistic hunger for conflict. He _wanted_ Chaz and company to come to him, wanted to be there in person to watch the Lutz draw that last, final breath. They would come, he felt it deep in his cold, bloodless heart. They would come for him.

And they would die.

They analyzed the atmosphere in much the same way as they had before, sending Wren out as a lone scout to make sure the others could survive outside of the protection of the Landale. Chaz felt a sense of worry that he had not experienced before the last time his friend had gone out there alone. There was no reason to believe that anything had changed from the other day, but he could not be certain. He'd feel a lot better once they got the transmission that he was okay.

Unlike last time there was an unexplainable delay. Nothing came through. Chaz's worries deepened. Had anything happened out there? Had Lassic anticipated where they would land and had killed the scout as a warning? As revenge for his three slain servants? Chaz shifted anxiously from foot to foot, touching the handle of the sword he had strapped to his back, relocated from his belt to accommodate quicker access to his twin knives. The knives had served him well in his last decisive battle, hopefully they would do so again.

Rika was sitting down on what passed for a seat on the Landale and watched Chaz fidget. She too had a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. If they beat Lassic and survived to live another day then she would have to face the additional fear of telling Chaz exactly how she felt about him. She wanted so badly to get everything off her chest for good, for real, but the chance of rejection was just far scarier than _anything_ Lassic could conjure by himself.

Kyra wanted to go home. As an esper she could sense all of Lassic's bad feelings towards them, and the long slow wear of ages granted after excruciating undeath. Doubtless Rune could feel it as well, but he was standing strong and unmoving, his lips pressed into a thin little line. Stoic. As the Lutz she would have expected as much, but as Rune, the mortal man who made her laugh and got jealous and felt fear, well, she was concerned for him.

As for Rune, he wanted it all to end. The evil presence behind Zio and Dark Force had recognised Rune for who and what he was, drawing its clawed hand deep into the past and dredging up this old skeleton from history. Somebody that even the great esper _Noah_ had feared. If this were a chess game that dark power had brought out its queen, and it could do some _serious_ damage to them, the Great Light's little pawns.

But even a pawn could take out a queen, with a bit of luck and a skilled player in control. He also needed to protect the kid, Chaz, their king. That was his responsibility even more than destroying Lassic was.

It had been ten minutes since Wren had left the safety of the Landale, and still no word. If they lost him the battle would be significantly harder to win. If _Chaz_ lost him he wouldn't know what to do. The boy was just about to open his mouth and suggest that they go out anyway, to find their friend despite the atmospheric uncertainty, when the communication system in the airlock began to beep insistently.

Chaz was onto it right away. He held down the button and spoke clearly so the remove receiver would be able to pick up his voice. "This is the Landale, can you hear me? What's taking so long out there? Is everything okay?" He also wanted to ask whether Wren himself was okay, but he tastefully held the question back on his tongue.

There was silence on the other side of the line, then Wren managed a reply. It was a relief. "I hear you. I am sorry for the delay. Atmospheric conditions are normal, but there is a slight change out here that my sensors are unable to analyze. I am not quite certain how I am able to sense it at all." There was a pause on the line. Chaz couldn't hear Wren breathing or anything like that, but he had an inkling the android was debating with himself as to whether he should voice a personal observation or not. "It is as if this castle is… humming."

Rune's ears perked up at the mention. He and Kyra had been able to sense it long before they had come close to the asteroid. Chaz and Rika felt it in their nerves ever since they had touched down on the ground. Now Wren, who was severely handicapped when it came to things like these had _finally_ picked up on it too. Even that was rather surprising. "Don't worry, it's not the black energy wave. We're safe. It's Lassic's magical field influencing everything around us, making the castle seem like it hates us. Just ignore it." The Lutz explained softly.

"What about you? Are _you_ okay?" Chaz pressed into the receiver device.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Wren replied, a little confused.

The hunter sighed, yet smiled. That dummy. He looked back to check out his other three friends, silently asking them if they were ready to go. He saw the similar reflection of suppressed fear in their eyes. Good, at least he wasn't the only one who was nervous. "Okay, we're coming out now. Wait for us." He said before he released the button on the intercom system.

They all noticed what had caused Wren to stop and stare once the airlock opened and they descended down the long metal ramp to the surface of the asteroid. The Air Castle had changed, not in foundation, but in certain parts it had sort of _blurred_. Moving like mist, some parts of the building had become indistinct. It was a little difficult to look at, the eye just couldn't maintain focus on the castle for very long without watering.

Wren was standing not far off from the end of the ramp. He went and rejoined the group once they were all gathered together and gawking at the spectacle. As a party they all looked at the strange sight. Chaz sort of equated it to a dimension worm rippling and pulsing, only in very tiny translucent fragments scattered all over the castle. "I cannot explain this phenomena." Wren said dully, then turned to Rune. He was their resident expert on magic. When the android couldn't explain something under his own parameters it was up to Rune to offer an analysis.

Grimly, Rune put a hand to his brow and groaned. He had been worried about something like this. It was _not_ going to be a safe and easy journey to the foot of Lassic's throne, though he had sort of expected that already. Rika didn't like the sound of that groan. He was their guide, if there was something he didn't like then it was a problem for them all. "What is it?" She asked the esper.

Rune laughed in a not very encouraging manner. "Ignore what I said about ignoring the magic. I thought it was just normal background magic because Lassic is furious with us, but looking at what I see now…" He inspected the Air Castle a second time and shook his head in cynical dismay. "He's set something up for us somewhere inside that castle. It's probably a trap. We've got to tread carefully."

Kyra leaned over and whispered something quietly into Rune's ear. Rika and Wren could make out what she said easily due to their advanced senses of hearing, but she had been wise enough to whisper it in her own native language. It sounded like a statement, then a question whispered in an even lower tone. Rune turned to her and didn't say anything at all, but he smiled and nodded. Kyra seemed quite satisfied by this.

Time to become the leader again. Chaz dug his spine out of his inventory and took a few purposeful steps towards the castle. Magic didn't scare him all that much, he had been up against far worse. He was not alone. They were all behind him, supporting him. "Let's just get this over with." He announced earnestly to his friends. "Kill Lassic, take the torch, and be back on Dezoris in time for breakfast. Follow me."

The strange blurring mist lurked inside of the castle too, instead of just at the entrance. As they progressed inside in a safe line of five they were loath to touch it, they maneuvered around the blurs whenever they had the chance. When they had no choice but to walk through the mist any body part that touched it experienced an odd, very soft vibration. It was unnerving.

As for the castle inside it was pretty much the same as last time, dark and cold, stinking of sulfur. The Air Castle was utterly silent as the small team of adventurers progressed into the main hall. The silence was almost as creepy as the mist. If anything were to attack them they'd hear it coming from a mile away, but in having to experience that sudden initial shock they would all jump out of their skins in fright.

In the main hall Chaz looked up to the balconies suspended above their heads and the slitted, stone ventilated roof. Smoke from the magma pits rose up to escape from those little gates, but there was less of that vapor now that the pits were cooling off and growing dark. They had already climbed to the very top of the castle and had not caught sight nor sound of the magician they were looking for, so there lay only one last direction they could take. Downward to the basement.

Rika broke away from the group and walked to the other side of the hall. She walked with tense anticipation, her claws out in case she was suddenly attacked, bristling like a cat. Something else had changed. She could see it, but she wanted to think that it was a good thing instead of something bad. "Look, the barrier's gone." She informed the others, waving her hand through the space where the three creatures had once stood.

"It's because we've already killed them, the illusions can't exist if the originals are destroyed! Alright!" Kyra exclaimed as she ran up and stood beside her friend, then she pumped a fist into the air with delight. Like a child she jumped into the freed part of the hall and then back again. She repeated this action several times with happy laughter.

It temporarily killed the eerie mood. The others relaxed. Beyond the illusion there was not an entirely new area of the Air Castle to explore, merely a shortcut to the innermost sanctum of the keep. Chaz and company were not attacked during their search but the deeper down they get into the building the heavier and thicker the blurry mist became. It was like the castle had been placed on top of a huge volcanic air vent with the mist slowly and steadily filtering through.

And, like the gaseous fumes of a volcanic vent the mist was slowly beginning to work its influence on the more vulnerable members of the group. Everybody including Wren had trouble keeping hold of their sense of direction, their concentration, and their ability to think clearly. To varying degrees it affected them all. Perhaps the most dangerous quality of the mist was that the five adventurers hardly noticed the change.

Eventually they found the long stairway which led into the basement. It was small and deep, hidden in one empty room attached to a long snakelike corridor. The hallway smelled of blood and smoke, days ago Rune had fought a cadre of biomonsters solo here and won. The party stopped before the stairway, looking down into the basement. It was unnaturally dark down there and shimmering.

Chaz nudged his way to the front of the group and took a small torch from off his belt. "Looks like this is the way to go." He muttered as he shone the torch down to the stone stairwell. Rather than dispel the light the young hunter had to squint and look away as something in the stairwell caused the torchlight to reflect and bounce right back into his eyes. He gasped sharply. What the heck was down there, a polished mirror?

The rest of the group was crowding around him as he clicked off the torch and tried to blink the white spots out of his eyes. Rika had her hand on his shoulder as she peered over his head into the darkness, while Kyra nearly put herself into a voluntary headlock by poking her head out underneath his arm. Rune and Wren stood at his side. Chaz bit his lip, it didn't seem like a good idea to descend into the darkness with no notion of what it might bring. "What should we do?" He asked Rune, turning to his side to look at him.

Rune got out a; "Well, uh…" before he was interrupted by Wren, who gently pushed Chaz and his two female hangers-on out of the way.

"Please allow me to take a closer look at the stairwell. I have excellent sight when it comes to scouting out the dark." He asked of his leader quietly. Chaz considered it, they'd be stuck where they were if they did not continue. If it was a trap then surely Wren would be intelligent enough to avoid it. He nodded his consent silently. They would all be close behind him if something were to go wrong.

They gave him some space and Wren switched his optics from colour differentiation to night vision. He experienced a moment of sudden chaos as his senses went from half light-half darkness to total darkness and he climbed down into the stairwell where he promptly disappeared from view. The four left in the light could still hear him, his tentative footsteps echoing on the stones.

After a minute with no communication by Wren from the stairwell Rika cupped part of a hand around her mouth and called out; "What do you see down there?", partially deafening Chaz whose ear had been very close at the time. He winced a little and wiggled a finger in his ear to work out the ringing. Poor Chaz, he had not even entered combat yet and his senses had been assaulted twice already.

The footsteps came back, but they were progressively louder now as Wren went back the way he came. He blinked a bit as he climbed back into the light and ignored the outstretched hands of his friends because they would not be able to pull him back up anyway. "Rune, are you _certain_ that the mist is harmless?" The android asked the esper, not quite giving them the all-clear that the others were hoping for.

"I'm not quite sure anyway. All I can give you is an educated guess because I've never seen anything like it before. Why do you ask?" Rune sighed in resignation. He was pragmatic, not expecting good news of any sorts. The path to the boss was never an easy one.

"Approximately twenty five steps down the mist has gathered into what appears to be a screen. It has covered that part of the stairwell from the stairs to the ceiling. If you wish to take that path then we will have to pass through that screen." He said carefully, giving his report. They could make of it whatever they wanted, but he personally did not trust that blurry spider's web out there in the dark.

"…Just like another gate…" Chaz heard Rune whisper in a very low tone, secretly to himself. The young hunter held his breath for a few moments. He didn't want to think that Rune was hiding something from them, but he couldn't be sure. It might not mean anything at all.

Chaz weighed the information privately and came to a hopefully practical decision. "Right, let's go in, but everybody take a partner so if something happens to one of you the other will be able to do something about it. We'll go down to the basement in pairs." Kyra straightened up and started digging around in her inventory for the long matchsticks they used as a lottery, but Chaz held up a hand and stopped her.

He shook his head solemnly. "No, this time _I'm_ going to pick who goes with who. Kyra and Rune will be one pair on account of that they get along so well, Rika and Wren will be the other pair because you two work well as a team. I'll take the point and lead by myself, okay?"

Rune and Kyra seemed quite pleased with Chaz's decision, yet it was the most unlikely person in the group who objected, with the most counter-productive request ever. Wren spoke up and out of turn. "That does not sound wise. You would be alone should anything happen to you. It is important that the leader remain protected. Chaz, I must insist that you pair with Rika and I will go by myself."

"For-" The hunter started to say, then stopped himself in time. He didn't want to start an argument there and now, in full view of everybody else. He just wanted the two most important people in his life protected and safe. Wren should understand that if anything were to happen to him or Rika then Chaz would just lose his way. In his mind it was worse than putting himself in physical danger. Best to keep them together, where they could protect one another. Chaz took a deep breath. "Wren, please. Just trust me."

Wren made eye contact with Chaz and for a moment they just stared each other down. Words could have been said, sincere, honest words, but not publicly. Silence would have to do, it would have to be enough. Chaz wanted Wren safe, Wren wanted Chaz safe, but Chaz was the leader and Wren was not. Chaz was controlling their relationship and Wren was not. He backed down. "…Alright. I will trust you." He replied softly.

"It'll be fine. You'll see." Chaz smiled and then they got organized into their respective groups. The blond hunter would go in first, then two minutes later Rune and Kyra would follow him. Two minutes after _that_ Rika and Wren would bring up the rear. Whatever that misty screen was hiding from them they would be prepared for it. They would be safe.

So the hunter went first, alone and unprotected into the unknown. He could feel the eyes of his friends on his armored back as he shone the torch down onto the stone steps carefully, so he could avoid the shimmering reflection and move without falling down the stairs. His other hand was clasped around the hilt of one of his daggers, resting snugly on his belt. It grew dark all around him and his footsteps began to echo, the change in the light sound causing a rattling chill to dart up his spine.

He stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder for one last reassuring glimpse of his friends. He saw Rika waving back at him, her face an expression of concern but still she wished him good luck. Chaz felt an impulse to go back the way he had come to where it was safe, but what kind of good would that do for him? Rika's wave spurred him on. Soon he disappeared.

Abruptly the sound of his footsteps vanished. He had walked through the screen. Two minutes later Kyra and Rune prepared to follow him. The female esper was a little edgy over dark, cramped spaces but Rune did something uncharacteristic of himself and courteously held her hand. "The kid's getting braver." She heard him remark of Chaz and she was inclined to agree. Rune smirked and guided her down the stairway. "Come on, let's match him."

Eventually those two were gone as well. Rika worried that they were behaving like lambs walking straight into a slaughterhouse. Chaz was acting stronger now, more like their leader should be. He must be anticipating the fight ahead, his personality always performed a little lurch towards courage and competence during decisive battles. She gave a small frown. "Rune was right, but we shouldn't have let him go off on his own."

"I know." Wren agreed gently. "I tried to stop him."

"I really care about him, Wren."

"As do I."

His choice of words were probably a little _too_ sincere and Rika looked at him curiously for a moment, but Wren kept up a straight face. It was easy, he was too concerned with Chaz and Lassic to appear any other way. It inspired a smile in Rika, who wanted to forever remain the optimist. "Well, hopefully not as much as I do." She giggled, toying with the white flower in her hair.

Wren looked at her evenly. He wasn't about to lie to Rika, but he wasn't going to be honest with her either. Chaz would just about kill him, if Rika didn't do it herself first. Gods, how exactly had he gotten himself into this mess in the first place? Thankfully, with Chaz on the line it was so completely worth it.

The two minutes were up. He tactfully changed the subject. "It is time to go. Let's follow them." He said as he picked up his weapon and extended a hand to Rika in offering. If they were walking into a trap then best to find out sooner rather than later.

She took his metal-plated hand without hesitation. She wasn't afraid of the dark, wasn't afraid of anything save for the others' sake.

So down they went into the basement, the last two members of the team vanishing yet accounted for.

But not for long.

xxx

Walking through the mist caused Rika's skin to prickle, the soft hairs on the back of her neck to rise, and her stomach to give a little flip flop of anxiety. The screen had just run a very weak magical charge through her, but while not painful to her it had still felt quite unpleasant. She opened her eyes. The basement wasn't as dark as she had expected, torches burned slowly on the walls every hundred meters or so along the corridor. Rika usually would not have found this very strange but oddities always wound up attracting her eye.

The wood which was meant to fuel the flames did not burn at all while the fire voraciously illuminated everything around it. More magic, so Lassic must know they were there. The numan girl felt weak on her feet, like she had walked straight out of reality and into a dream. It was really hard to think, to retain information, to do anything at all. _I've been hypnotized,_ the rational part of her mind thought in abject horror, _exposure to that mist has put me into a trance._

But shouldn't awareness of being in a trance be enough to snap her straight out of that trance? Apparently not. She shook her head slowly, and with the same speed of brain function Rika realised that she was not supposed to be alone. She had a partner, so where had he gotten to?

She had a look around for him. Wren was actually standing right next to her, which gave a good impression on just how dazed Rika was right now. They were still holding hands and she nearly bumped into him. "Oh, there you are." She hummed in almost a singsong. "Don't disappear, we're meant to stick together from now on. Where are we? Is this the basement or have we stepped into a dream?"

The girl swayed and Wren grabbed her by the upper arms to keep her from falling over. He wasn't exactly feeling the best himself but at least his reflexes were fast enough to do that. Many of his functions had shut down when he and Rika had passed through the screen and he hadn't been able to reactivate them yet. His auto-map and compass were both locked out. He spoke after a lengthy pause. "I do not know. I hope so."

"This is what I feel like when I dream, only this time I'm aware that I'm dreaming. What if this really _is_ a dream? What if we're unconscious somewhere, defenseless when Lassic comes to get us?" Rika pulled herself together for a bit, raising her head to look him in the eye. She _wanted_ to be afraid because she knew that she should be, but for some reason she couldn't feel anything else but giddy confusion.

The android shook her very gently to maintain her attention on him. Wren never dreamed, not really, so he couldn't compare this altered state of awareness to anything else. "Don't be ridiculous. Gather yourself together and we will progress to Lassic's chamber. It seems to be a rather straightforward path ahead. I am going to let go of you now." He did, tentatively. Rika didn't fall over, she actually straightened up and composed herself admirably, smiling.

"I'm sorry. I'll try to fight the daze, I know I can. Let's get moving." She promised resolutely. The two of them held hands and pressed on, along the winding corridor lit by unnatural flame. There was always a bit of a downward slope which gave the encouraging notion that they were proceeding deeper and deeper into the bowels of the Air Castle. The hallways twisted like a coiled snake and split in two at some points, leading into long cul-de-sacs which became a misleading annoyance.

The general direction was clear however, all the branching dead ends doing nothing more kill some time. Rika's mental acuity gradually returned to her with every step, the daze not quite fading but the numan girl finding a way to both accept the dreamlike state and then put it out of her mind, just like a _real_ dream. She started to think that she could probably fight again, if they were attacked.

Two levels down from where they had started it was becoming apparent that as Rika recovered, Wren was beginning to worsen. Maybe it was because the dream state was so alien to him, or because Lassic's trap would only allow enough clarity of mind for just _one_ of them. Rika noticed something was wrong when he practically tripped down the stairs coming to the third basement floor. He caught himself in time, but the half-vacant look on his face was troubling.

"Wren, are you alright? Can you hear me?" Rika asked, watching her friend trying to stay nonchalant but just slightly leaning against the wall for support. They had come very far, it was probably just a little bit farther to the end. She was not going to leave him behind. Gosh, the situation reversal had happened so fast that it had crept on them without a sound.

"Yes… I am fine, I just cannot maintain optimal condition in this area. I am unable to explain why, but have patience with me and I can continue. Rika…" He stood and picked up his gun. "All peripherals have shut down. I am no better than a palman at the moment. I can no longer provide information in this state."

Neither of them knew why their minds were being affected so. The daze grew as their minds were being read, analyzed and then manufactured into the surprise that was waiting for them just around the bend. Lassic wanted to hurt them physically and tear them limb from limb, make them bleed and scream, but before that he had one delightful task up ahead of him. He wanted to hurt their souls, find the nerve which displayed the most sensitivity and then impale it with a blunt needle.

The key was in their minds, and with a little sneaky rummaging and creativity the trap was baited with ease. With no high spirits their will to fight would be lost. When the magic had found what it wanted in Wren's mind, just as it had with Rika's the magic seemed to fade. From that point on the android showed somewhat of a speedy improvement.

On the last basement level the corridors held no slope to it. This was it, this was the end. The two adventurers rounded a corner and were met with a sudden surprise heralded by familiar, yet foreign laughter.

Kyra Tierney was sitting in the middle of the stone hallway, perched on top of a tall wooden barstool, specifically one which had come from Gyuna's tavern. Her hands were in her lap, her blue eyes sparkling, but her presence there made absolutely no sense at all. She was meant to be sticking close to Rune, and _why_ was she giggling like that? Wren lowered his weapon and Rika stepped forward in puzzlement. "Kyra? What are you doing here?" She gasped.

"I know a secret!" The female esper proclaimed in a loud voice, her demeanor that of a gossip with her hands into some extremely juicy dirt. She was just about gloating. "Rune told me a secret! When I heard it I knew I _had_ to stay behind, because Rika, you _need_ to know this." She started to giggle again, maniacally.

Nobody had to tell Rika or Wren that something fishy was going on. But… Kyra really _was_ a gossip, and she _could_ have stayed behind if she wanted to. As for Gyuna's barstool, well, with the daze it was easy to ignore things that didn't make sense. Wren was wary. He raised his weapon again in case it was a trick. "I am not certain that you are Kyra Tierney. Please identify yourself."

The esper girl continued ranting as if she had not heard Wren speaking at all. Perhaps that was true, as Kyra did not seem to make direct eye contact with either of them. "It's about Chaz." She sang. "He really likes somebody! Rune told me who it is. Let me tell you, I was _amazed_ when I heard it! Talk about the most unlikely person in the world! But I guess that's Chaz for you, isn't it? Always has to be a surprise."

The strange Kyra's words got through to Rika and her eyes widened a little in shock. Chaz's mystery girlfriend, Kyra knew who it was! All she'd have to do was ask and she could know who her rival was, the person she'd have to compete with to earn Chaz's heart. Wren standing beside her felt a very strange emotion, a chilling feeling of dread. Kyra shouldn't know, but if _Rune_ knew (and that was possible) he could have told Kyra, and then…

Rika piped up. She had to know. "Who is she?" She exclaimed. "Please tell me who she is!"

When Kyra heard the word 'she; she shut up quickly, momentarily stunned by just how inaccurate Rika was. She blinked a few times, then a long, feline smile spread across her face. Rika didn't like it, had she said something wrong? "Oh, Rika. You poor girl. You really don't know, do you?" The esper said with thick syrupy pity, rocking back and forth on her stool a little. "Chaz is a deviant. He swings his sword with _both_ hands, if you know what I mean."

No, Rika didn't get what she meant, and even if she did deep down in her mind she could not accept it. She felt Wren let go of her hand so he could cling more firmly to his weapon, feeling fear and not quite understanding it, feeling weak and being unsure if it was a side effect of the daze or the anxiety. Wow, _real_ terror. He hadn't felt anything like that for centuries, if ever. "I don't see what relevance this has to your identification. Are you Kyra Tierney or not? Answer the question."

"Be quiet Wren, please. I need to know this. If I can't find out now it'll torment me." Rika pleaded, momentarily glancing at her friend. She didn't notice just how tightly the android was gripping his weapon, white-knuckled were he a palman. Even if she did she didn't care right now, her attention was on the laughing esper. She placed a hand over her heart in sincerity. "I don't understand what you mean. Who is it that Chaz likes? You don't need to worry about upsetting me, I just have to know."

Kyra went from looking at Rika to looking at Wren. The cunning smile became sinister, her sparkling eyes mocking. Gracefully she climbed off the barstool and stood at her full height. She was slightly taller than Wren remembered her to be. He was more than certain that this wasn't their true friend, but he didn't know how to prove it. His peripherals had been shut down, he couldn't even run the most basic of scans on her. All he could do was look and listen. Wait. That was a start…

The blue-haired girl folded her arms and opened her mouth to speak. It was only then that Wren realised no air came out; she wasn't breathing. He could not hear the gentle sound of her exhalation and her chest did not rise and fall with the effort. "Rika. If you want to know who it is that Chaz likes, all you have to do is look at the person standing right next to-"

Wren killed her before she could finish her sentence. He pointed his cannon at the target and pulled the trigger, a burst of superheated plasma destroying her where she stood. There was no blood or gore, there was not anything at all, only the explosion, the chemical smell and the bright light. She was gone.

Rika shrieked. Kyra was their ally and Wren had just turned on her like a cold and unfeeling machine. She looked at the android with wide eyes, too stunned to be angry or terrified or upset. Rika rarely screamed or made a fuss at all, but that had been her _friend_. "You just… you just…" She stammered as smoke lazily drifted from the cannon's barrel.

"It's alright." Wren reassured her from his deep fount of calm. He was really withdrawing more than he had left, these days. He walked up to where Kyra had stood, haphazardly fanning the smoke away. He knelt. If he had been mistaken then he had just killed one of his closest friends, but he was ninety two percent certain that he was right. All that was left of the girl was a long tan cloak, she had not been wearing that when she was alive. Wren smiled a little in relief. "That was not Kyra. It was merely an illusion to trick our minds."

The cloak he was holding up belonged to a chaos sorcerer, another or Lassic's nameless minions. The squeezing presence around Rika's heart remained there. Even if it was not real she had just seen one friend attacking another friend. It was a decidedly traumatic experience to catch the very split second of somebody disintegrating before your eyes. Also, she had been _so_ close to finding out who Chaz liked, only to have the information snatched away from her. "She was going to tell me the truth." Rika murmured numbly.

So thank the gods that Wren had managed to shut her up in time. The cloak of the dark sorcerer was beginning to dissolve in his hands, wearing away to loose fibers which became dust within seconds. Wren shook his hand a little to rid himself of the foreign particles. "It was just another servant of Lassic. It does not seem wise to trust the words of our enemy, especially when its express purpose was to mislead us. It was merely telling you what you did not wish to hear."

As Wren pushed himself back up from one knee Rika recalled the words the fake Kyra had said to her just before she died. '_If you want to know who it is Chaz likes all you have to do is look at the person standing right next to you_'. Her own mind filled in the last part, it seemed the most likely word to come next. Wren knew. Rika knew that Wren knew, but he would not talk about it. Maybe there was a reason for that. "Why won't you tell me who Chaz likes?" She questioned him softly but firmly.

"Because I also do not want to tell you what you do not wish to hear." Wren said as he averted his eyes from Rika. The numan girl immediately felt concerned for him. He seemed slightly upset and sad. "Listen, this is primarily Chaz's business and if he does not want anybody to learn about his private life then _I_ am not about to spread rumors about him. Talk to Chaz. Don't expect anything from me."

He was right. It was selfish to drag her friend into this confusing mess with herself and Chaz only to satisfy her catlike curiosity. She had confided in Wren and he had helped her, but asking him to betray his newly reinforced friendship with Chaz was just too much. She felt ashamed of herself and blushed. "One thing doesn't add up though." She muttered. "Why do you know so much about Chaz's personal life anyway?"

This time Wren almost blushed himself, temporarily stunned. He couldn't help but flash back to the night before for a moment or two. He couldn't very well tell the stark truth and say; '_because last night I sucked his dick and I liked it_', but he had to say _something_. Lies only beget more lies, over time. The wren-type fidgeted a little as he tried to come up with a simpler explanation. Ugh, if it was so simple then _why_ was it so hard to think up?

Then, from out of the blue he had it. He could have sighed out of such relief. "When you are somebody like myself, who does not have a set of clearly defined emotions it is easy for people to come to me for advice. I am not judgmental and I do not look down upon others in revulsion or disgust. Chaz came to me with his problems just as you did upon that mountainside on Dezoris. I can no more breach his confidence in me than I can for you, Rika. I'm only trying to keep my promises."

And that was the honest truth. It was airtight. Rika smiled weakly, in apology. "Yes, it's very important to keep your trust in people. I'm sorry for trying to make you break it, Wren. I just wanted to know what he likes in a girl before I go and offer my heart to him. I just don't want him to ignore me or laugh at me."

He experienced empathy for the girl. He was beginning to understand exactly how she felt. They were rivals but they were also tutor and student, comrade and comrade. Wren walked back over to Rika and sympathetically placed an arm around her shoulders, in a loose little hug. He squeezed her lightly. "You don't have to apologize. I hope that Chaz will notice you and you won't have to feel this way anymore."

Only he _knew_ that he was lying, and somewhere deep inside of him he felt terrible for it.


	19. Mists Of Delusion

So, in that deep dark place away from his friends and all that could help him, what did Chaz Ashley fear the most? What did he desire the most? And, more than anything else, what could hurt him most of all?

He was an easy person to read. As he stepped down into the darkness and passed through the misty screen he did not think much of the new area he was in. It was exactly the same environment that Wren and Rika had traversed earlier, or perhaps later in every which way, as if they had all been spirited away to parallel yet identical basements and made to continue on in their own particular ways.

Nobody was beside him to pick him up when he stumbled and wondered _why_ it suddenly felt like he was dreaming, his movements slow and clumsy and his head packed with cotton wool. He worried that he might have fallen asleep somewhere, and man, the others would be furious with him if they found him like that, sprawled out in a corridor and just snoring away.

Still, even if this was a dream it would be better if he press on. Perhaps the end of the dream lay at the end of this corridor. Chaz pinched himself as he followed the pathway of lit torches. He felt the pain and it jolted him out of his daze momentarily, but he still stayed down there in the basement by himself. Maybe it wasn't a dream after all.

It was slightly suffocating to be there alone, progressing with the constant threat of attack looming over his head. The forces which surrounded him and stalked him with an invisible presence and silent footsteps found his mind to be quite interesting, probing and prodding so ardently that had the daze been just an iota stronger Chaz would have passed out on his feet, then and there. It was already a battle to which the hunter did not even know he was participating. Furthermore, he was losing that fight.

Yes, that boy had quite an interesting mind indeed. Not open and honest like Rika's, with just a little bit of shy anxiety, young and still learning about the world. Not like Wren's either, put together in a different way and harder to crack, but in essence very old and wise about certain things, but distinctly childlike in other areas. Chaz was not like either of them, though he bore a resemblance to them both. He was young and learning, cynical, still grieving for his mentor, and though wavering in and out of love he was quite uncertain of himself.

Love and lust and confusion and fear and sadness, but somehow the boy had managed to find himself a comfortable content spot amidst all the emotional chaos. So many nerves to puncture, so many delicious ways to hurt. All that was required was a little shove out of his safe haven and back into the tumult of his soul. Right now, in the present, which was the best way to strike?

Tan cloaks rustled momentarily in the shadows. Chaz went stock still and glanced toward that feather-light noise like a frightened little rabbit. He shone the torch in that direction and saw nothing but the purple castle wall with veiny yellow seams fracturing the stone. He blinked dumbly a few times. Now he was hearing things as well. For half a minute he just stood there, waiting to hear that noise again, but when it proved to be just a figment of his imagination he moved on.

His hesitant walk transformed itself into a rhythmic march as time crept on, moving from basement level one to basement level two, then three. No enemies attacked him and that was strange, but none of his friends caught up with him and that was even stranger. He still had this feeling that he was being followed, which grew more urgent as the daze slowly left his mind. Chaz hoped that Rune and Kyra were alright, and Wren and Rika after them. Maybe he should slow down for a while and let them catch up to him. Why not? It wasn't a race, he had nothing here to lose.

He was seriously considering this and taking a short break until the daze was well and truly out of his mind when he heard faint voices coming from up ahead. Chaz jerked his gaze up from where he had been staring at his boots. They sounded a little familiar, though he couldn't be so sure from listening so far away. Had any of the other two groups overtaken him while he had been in the deepest part of his daze? No, that couldn't have happened. Even if he had been totally delirious he would have noticed somebody else navigating past him through the basement maze.

Also, even if any of his friends _had_ passed him by they would not have left him to his own devices. They would have at least _spoken_ to him. The hunter rubbed his head a bit in the hopes that it would clear his thinking. While he did this somebody raised their voice up ahead only for a moment, but that brief snatch of words was enough for Chaz to recognise. Rika.

That immediately motivated him. He clicked off his torch and hastily stuffed it back into his belt before taking off in the direction of the voices. It was something completely subconscious and inherent in his hunter's spirit that made him grab at one of his daggers, in case he was running into a battle in progress. A single knife wouldn't do much but it was better than a bare hand. Chaz rounded the final corner and came to an intersection, then halted suddenly in his tracks.

Rika and Wren stood within the crossroads and were partaking in a rather heated conversation, complete with gesticulations and some rather acidic words. When Chaz came around the bend and ran right into them the argument immediately shut down and they stopped and stared at him. They actually seemed more surprised to see Chaz than Chaz was surprised to see them. The blond hunter straightened up and put away his knife. "You guys were supposed to be back there…" He told them in perplexity, pointing back in the direction of the stairs.

The numan and the android just looked at him for several seconds in silence. Rika had her arms folded while Wren was holding onto his weapon with one hand, in the middle of a gesture with the other, but he aborted it and dropped it to his side after a moment. He was the first of the two to speak, and with a smile. It struck Chaz as wrong not because Wren rarely smiled, but because the smile seemed somehow insincere. Wren never smiled unless he had a perfectly honest reason for it. "Ah, Chaz. You have come at just the right time. You need to clear up this disagreement that Rika and I are having."

Rika nodded resolutely to Wren's request, frowning just a little. She too didn't seem quite right, though for the moment Chaz couldn't figure out why. He let go of the idea that their presence here was impossible and just decided to go with it; it was easier that way. Thinking otherwise made his head hurt. "Disagreement? What's the problem?" He asked.

"You need to tell us here and now who you like better, Wren or me." Rika declared in an unusually sharp voice, making a curt hand motion toward her friend before tucking it back across her chest. Wren did not even register her acknowledgement to him. Rika's pretty blue eyes were cold and determined. Talk about a frosty atmosphere.

As for Chaz Rika's words stunned him so much that nothing else in Algo could have achieved the same result. Not only did it feel like his heart had stopped beating, his blood had also frozen in his veins and time had stopped flowing around him. The colour of his skin drained down to white porcelain. She knew. How did she _know_? "You uh, you uh… nuh… know about that?" He stammered with wide eyes and a manic grin that had come out of nowhere. Maybe it was there to keep him from screaming.

"About how you feel towards me, and what you've been doing with Wren behind my back? Of course I do. It's not something you could keep secret forever. Don't think I didn't notice those little puppy-dog glances you'd give me when you thought I wouldn't notice." Rika emitted a small laugh, pretty yet hard, like a gemstone. Chaz felt like he was going to have a heart attack. It had been just about _killing_ him and she had known all along? "But of course Wren and I can't share you. You have to decide who you want to be with, him or me."

"Chaz prefers me." Wren said in his bland, emotionless way. "He came to me first, not you. You frightened him, your attitude scared him because he was afraid that if he told you how he felt you would ignore him or hurt him, or both. He prefers me because I will never judge him or force anything from him, so he is always in control. He has already begun to forget you, and I welcome the chance to take your place."

"'Never force anything from him'?" Rika repeated in cold amusement. "What about the night you kissed him and scared poor Chaz half to death? Did he _ask_ for that? Chaz only went to you because he thought he wouldn't be good enough for me. You're the second choice, Wren, and your perverse behavior proves it. If you didn't 'perform' to Chaz on command do you think he would even give a damn about you? I don't think so!"

This was a nightmare. It was the worst argument he'd ever have to listen to, by its nature of course, but also because he didn't know whose side to take. When Wren attacked Rika he wanted to valiantly defend the woman of his dreams, but when Rika lashed back at Wren Chaz just wanted to switch sides and protect his lover. He could barely wrap his mind around the idea that his secret had slipped, he wished a hole would just open up in the floor and swallow him alive. "Um, we can talk about this…" He said ineffectually, for the argument was already well and truly on.

Wren was becoming angry, but in a restrained way. If Chaz didn't know any better he could have sworn that Rika had just accused the android of being a slut. "Everything that I did for him was only because he asked me to. You are only jealous because Chaz does not like you in the same manner in which he appreciates me. If you didn't want his infatuation to stray then you should have done something when you had the chance. Are you thinking of Chaz or are you thinking of yourself, Rika?"

He might as well have slapped Rika in the face, the indictment had basically the same effect. "I'd rather be an aloof ideal for Chaz to fantasize about and keep my dignity than sink as far as you have! I guess it can't be helped, you wouldn't know the first thing about how relationships work, but I won't have you turning Chaz into a confused homosexual _just_ so you can learn more about the world! Chaz deserves a woman, he deserves a future! What can you give him that I can't?"

"I don't know, how about happiness?" Wren spat back acidly. The more they argued the less they appeared to be like themselves. Chaz had never heard Wren use that tone of voice before, and he didn't know Rika could be so cruel. The android realised he had come up with something good and stuck with it. "When I spoke with him that night he was a miserable wreck. I couldn't let him continue like that; I had to do something. If it cost me my so-called dignity to make Chaz happy then it was a worthy trade!"

Rika closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "All this doesn't matter. I don't care what you say. You could have slept with Chaz a hundred times but what difference does that make when his heart belongs to me? You're just an easy harlot to pass the time with while he works up the courage to talk to me."

"That's a lie!" Wren cried, but that was all he was able to say. The android was so upset that his fists were shaking. He had no way to disprove what she had said and no more information to bolster his own view of things. It was because in some way that was what _Chaz_ believed to be true, because he could not say anything that Chaz did not know or feel.

"Hey-" Chaz started to say in a feeble attempt to break up the argument.

"_Shut up!_" Both Rika and Wren turned to him and shouted in perfect sync. Chaz cringed.

They didn't even need him there to continue bickering. Tears welled up in Chaz's eyes and he sunk down onto the floor, wrapping his arms around his legs and huddling into a little ball. He couldn't lie, he cared about them both, but he wished they wouldn't shout and carry on like a pair of selfish children. This was what he was afraid of, for Rika to find out about their indiscretions and for Wren to defend it like an angry bear, but the worst of it was not being dragged into the center of the mess; it was being ignored.

He wasn't actually crying, but he had to blink frequently to keep his vision clear. There was a lump the size of an asteroid deep down in his throat that he couldn't swallow or cough away. They were still fighting over his head and he tried to mentally block out the sound. It was sweet that Wren was fighting for him, but Rika still seemed disgusted by their rather eccentric relationship.

Wait a moment. Chaz froze again and bit his lip in wild, disbelieving hope. He was so dense, he hadn't realised it until now. Rika was fighting for him. _For him_. She knew about his strange relationship with Wren and yet she _still_ wanted him. His heart fluttered like an epileptic butterfly in his chest. Great Light, Rika _liked_ him!

They were up to nasty name calling when Chaz stood with sudden determination in his eyes. He didn't have to be afraid of getting his feelings hurt now; he already knew how she felt. If he had only known about this sooner, like a few weeks ago he might not even have needed to bring Wren into his problems. He felt incredibly light and warm, even the tips of his fingers were tingling. "Hey!" He shouted loud enough to catch their attention. "You want to know who I like? Be quiet for a minute and I'll tell you!"

Surprisingly they both obeyed. Rika tossed her pink hair over her shoulder and Chaz realised the one thing that seemed wrong about her, besides her oddly aggressive behavior. The small white flower that Raja had given her to wear this morning was gone. Had she lost it somewhere? Well, no matter. He steeled himself to speak. "The thing is, for a very long time I have loved Rika. I don't know when it started but I guess it began shortly after we left Motavia. There's so many things I love about you Rika, you're beautiful, you have an awesome intellect, and I dunno… lots of other things I can't quite put into words."

"But," Chaz continued, "Wren was right in a way. I loved you so much that I was afraid to talk to you about it in the chances that you wouldn't love me back. I didn't know what to do and I sort of went to Wren for advice, then… well, things happened and before I knew it we were like this. I just needed to be close to somebody, or else the pressure of this quest we're undertaking would have crushed me."

Wren had gone quiet. Perhaps a little _too_ quiet. He had a feeling he knew exactly where this was going. "What are you saying, Chaz?" He asked softly, lowly.

Dampening the euphoria of getting his feelings out to Rika Chaz felt extremely bad for Wren. He knew this day was coming but he hadn't expected it to come so soon. He felt like he hadn't gotten enough time with his very first lover. Chaz regarded his android friend for a moment then averted his gaze. "I'm sorry Wren. If I had to choose between the both of you I would choose Rika. I really like you so much, but I _love_ her. You need to see the difference. What we had was wonderful but it was only a comfort thing. It wasn't going to last."

The dark-haired machine processed this for a maddening amount of time, then he bowed his head and nodded slowly. Of course, it could never be a serious relationship. Chaz focussed back on Rika, letting out a deep exhalation of breath as if his troubles could be released in that way. It made him feel much better. "So there you have it, Rika. I love you. What you're going to say next is either going to kill me from joy or from sadness. What do you think? Do you like me too?"

Rika cocked her head slightly to the side and smiled. She had her hand in his chest, enclosed around his heart. She could either rip it out or merely squeeze, that would be enough to finish him off. If she left it in there though he'd be the happiest man in the world. She looked at him with those deep blue eyes he had always loved. Gently, her hand came up and touched his cheek, soft, pressing so lightly and the sliding down to the side of his neck. Her touch was cool, not overly so, but not warm. That was odd too, but he gratefully ignored it.

In the background, a slip-up. Chaz didn't see the wren-type's secret smile, didn't hear the barely audible laugh.

"Why Chaz," Rika whispered in a sweet, cruel, horrible voice, her eyes half-lidded as she murmured into his ear, "that's really very… pathetic."

Chaz went cold. Huh? Rika straightened and began to fiddle with her claw gloves, pleased with herself. Had he really just heard that? Maybe his ears had played a trick on him within the light daze. Rika had just gone on about wanting him to like her, why would she say something so nasty as that? "Uh?" Chaz grunted in incomprehension, retaining his hope even as he felt it slipping like sand between his fingers.

"You don't really think the feeling is mutual, do you? Don't make me laugh. It's flattering to have an admirer but don't you think I could do much better than a little orphan boy too scared to admit his feelings for me?" Rika lilted, laying her cards down on the table. Her tone had become flat, businesslike. "Frankly I don't care whether you fawn over me or not, but you will look at _only_ me and nobody else. Forget about Wren, he wouldn't want you anyway since you have discarded him. I'm going up ahead now."

She turned to leave, taking one path of the split intersection. Chaz just stood there in utter befuddlement, blinking like a baby owl, the reality of the situation slowly sinking through to him. The tears came and this time there was no restraint, audible and pitiful. "Rika!" The boy cried like a lamb's bleat, trying to coax her back. There wasn't any coherent meaning behind his cry, he just needed to call her name. "Rika, please!"

The girl hesitated, perhaps wondering whether she should go back. The pause almost gave Chaz cause to hope again, but Rika shook her head without turning around. "Sorry. Someday you'll understand the reason why." Then she vanished into the shadows down the hall.

When she was gone Chaz's mind just wanted to deny everything that had happened. It couldn't have been real, it was just too heart-wrenching to be reality. The boy's legs gave out on him and he sunk to his knees with a sob, then lent forward and slammed both his palms hard onto the floor. He wanted to scream his lungs raw but his sobs would get in the way, the tears running down his cheeks and pattering to the ground. "Rika…" He whimpered again weakly.

He had become so immersed in his sudden violent heartbreak that he didn't notice Wren crouch down beside him until the big android reached out and gently placed a hand upon Chaz's head, mussing up the hunter's hair slightly like one would pat a dog. It quieted him down a bit and he turned to his friend with bleary, watery eyes. Chaz wiped his nose with a sleeve of his bodysuit and sniffed. Wren was looking at him very carefully.

"Am I… am I really that pathetic?" Chaz croaked through his restricted throat, ever on the verge of bursting into tears again. He must at least _look_ pathetic after how he had reacted to Rika's rejection. He had never had his heart broken before. It felt worse then he ever could have envisioned it, so many times when imagining the very conversation that had just taken place.

"Come here Chaz." Wren ordered softly and picked the boy up from the ground, setting him back on his feet. He wobbled but he was still okay, catching a quick peek at Wren's face before looking away in shame. Wren was expressionless but his actions were quite tender. He reached into Chaz's pocket and pulled out a handkerchief he knew the hunter kept in there, then used it to wipe the tears from his face.

Chaz let him do it in semi silence, quiet save for the occasional hiccup or sniffle. It was surprising just how intimate this simple action was. It calmed Chaz down somewhat but now he had a horrible dull aching in his heart, like the pull of a black hole. Would it be permanent? If so then he wouldn't be able to stand it. "I love Rika." He protested weakly, his voice breaking near the end. "How could she do this to me? Wren, please hold me. I can't take this by myself."

He stepped towards him with his arms held out, wanting more than anything the touch of somebody who cared. He wanted into cry into somebody else's arms until the initial shock of the pain went away. He couldn't stand to be by himself, to experience that would just be too much. Wren would help him, they were lovers, so he would always help him through all his troubles. That was one of the reasons why Chaz had started to like him in the first place.

So he hadn't expected Wren to say; "No." and brace him at half an arm's length, keeping the boy away. Wren didn't want Chaz to touch him. Blandly he regarded the confused expression on the blond palman's face, silently asking why. "You are not the only one who has been rejected tonight. It does hurt very much, but I will not let you near me. I will not have you hurt me again."

"What?" Chaz breathed. "What do you mean?"

"You are so selfish." Wren stated with slight bitterness. "You only ever think about yourself and what _you_ want. Nobody else matters. You chose Rika and everything that she said about me was the truth, wasn't it? I am only the second choice. That is all I will ever be to you. You cannot have Rika and so you immediately come running back to me, because _I_ will not object to you looking for a _real_ love in your spare time. Why should I? I am only an easy harlot whose sentiments are always in question!"

By the end Wren was almost shouting. Hearing the android yelling, specifically at him completely pulverized his already frayed nerves. "I can't help it if I care about the both of you! I was only being honest! I never wanted to hurt you but there was no way out of it! I love Rika and I couldn't lie and say that I love you instead!"

Wren frowned. There was the stark truth. "You have made your decision very clear. Stick with it. Follow Rika around as much as you like but I assure you she will never love you back. I may not know as much about relationships as I should but I am _not_ stupid enough to get rejected by the same person twice." The android let go of Chaz's arm and the boy could still feel the cold familiar touch for a few seconds, lingering through the red fabric of his bodysuit. Wren sighed. "I can't believe I was actually falling in love with you."

_What_? He walked off down the same pathway that Rika had chosen, taking firm, purposeful steps. Chaz stared. The very last thing Wren had said, did he really _mean_ that? He would never have known. Wren was an android, he didn't think anything like that could happen for real. Chaz was on both the giving and receiving end of admissions tonight. The hunter burst into panicky action and chased after his friend, frantically grabbing onto the wrist which wasn't carrying his gun. "Wait!" He cried. "Wren, please! Let's talk about this!"

"Talk to Rika instead." Wren replied coldly and yanked his arm back from the boy, the frost from his words enough to ward Chaz away. He fell back onto the floor again and covered his face with his hands, only this time there was nobody left to pick him back up again.

Ah, a beautiful result. The chaos sorcerers could not have hoped for a better conclusion. Emotional chaos, heartbreak, tears and yelling and pain, it was just as good as shredding living bodies to disorderly pieces, if not better.

The two magicians had done their duty, walking back into the familiar random entropy.

The physical assault was up to their master now, the great king Lassic.

xxx

The anteroom to Lassic's chamber had been turned into a tiny camp while the _real_ Rika and Wren waited for their friends to catch up to them. If they were the last members of the team to enter the darkness and the very first to reach the end then it was possible something horrible had happened to the other three members of the team. Rune, Kyra and Chaz, out of communication and out of touch. It worried them.

Rika was sitting a little ways down the corridor and watching the blurry mists flowing around the purple stones. It had grown back like mushrooms as soon as they had found the end of the path. The doorway to Lassic's chamber stank like sulphurous fire and rotting flesh, like a cannibal's banquet had been left lying out in the open for hundreds of years. She feared to go in there alone. Wren was around, busying himself with a casual patrol in the hopes of spotting the others arrive. He seemed anxious about the delay as well.

She was nibbling on a few pieces of dehydrated apple as she thought long and hard about what had just happened, along with what they were about to do. Faintly she could hear the heavy clank of Wren's footsteps elsewhere in the area. They were very lucky Wren had realised that the Kyra they had seen was a fake, if he hadn't destroyed her in time they might both be dead. It had looked _just_ like her, down to the last inch.

That may well have been what had happened to the others, fooled by doppelgangers without an android around to point out the fakes. No, they were more reliable than that. They wouldn't be tricked like she had been; they were much smarter than she was. If anything they were just delayed, yes, that was it.

But she couldn't get out of her mind what the fake Kyra had said to her. If you want to know, look at Wren. She already knew that Wren was aware of who their leader liked, but the way that Kyra said it made it seem like more than it was. It was like she was accusing Wren of more than keeping Chaz's confidence. She could take the credibility of the fake Kyra with a grain of salt, but that one grain of salt was _something_ and not nothing. It bugged her like a little splinter in her mind.

Perhaps, unconsciously, she was attempting to deny what the tiny, near invisible clues were trying to tell her. It never touched her forebrain but in the back it was there, gathering itself together. Chaz and Wren had become very good friends in the span of just a few weeks. They spent quite a bit of time together now, usually on their own. Lastly, fake Kyra had told her to look at Wren when wondering who Chaz liked. The pieces fit together almost perfectly, but the picture it portrayed was simply impossible.

Rika did not think about this. She was certain it was only all a ploy from her own mind tampered by Lassic to turn it into a hallucinogenic nightmare. After all, what she had been told was her very own personal bad dream. A very clever trap she supposed, but defused by her friend who was unable to dream. He had seen straight through the nightmare.

Little did she know, however, that the illusion they had seen didn't entirely belong to just her. Half of it had been her fears, the other half of it had been Wren's, though the android would have never admitted it to anybody but himself. Their fears had been so compatible that the chaos sorcerer had turned it into a combined production, not that it had helped the dark creature in the end. Still, extra credit for the effort, one would suppose.

Footsteps grew louder again but they were softer, not as heavy. It was hard to eat with the stink of death in the air but if she didn't have something eventually she'd feel too weak to fight properly later on. Everything in the Air Castle was designed to wear them out, scare them out, altogether make it easier for Lassic to snuff them out. She smiled as she thought that the best way to get back at the enemy would be to march into his throne room singing and laughing. That would show him spirits could not be broken so easily by simple magical illusions.

Or so she thought. When the footsteps were loud enough for Rika to notice properly she looked up and saw Chaz walking slowly towards her, head down, his shoulders drooping and depressed. There were tear stains on his cheeks and his breaths were raspy and ragged, enough to cause Rika's heart to sink. _Somebody has been cruel to him, somebody's made him cry. Oh…_ She thought, her feeling of anger mostly drowned out by her concern for him.

"Chaz!" Rika called out to him and was up on her feet within a second, running towards him with her arms held out. The boy glanced up quickly, startled, uttering a little gasp of surprise. He didn't have enough time to do anything else before Rika flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him tightly, squeezing to make sure he was all there. "Thank goodness you're not hurt! Never go off on your own ever again!"

"…H-Huh?" The boy sniffed, going rigid with his arms by his sides. Her body against his was warm, soft and clinging, but this only confused him even more. Rika had told him that she was not in love with him and willfully broke his heart, how could she just turn around like she didn't remember and hug him like this? Hadn't he been hurt enough tonight? It had taken just about all the effort he had left to pick himself up off the floor and continue on to the end.

"Are you alright? What happened to you? What did you see?" She demanded, hitting him with a three question combo before he could even gather his bearings. The poor dear was trembling, still in shock. Rika let go of him and grasped his hand, leading him over to where she had been leaning back against the wall. "Come over here. Sit down, you look like you're about to fall over."

How could he refuse? He had absolutely no idea what was going on. Chaz sat back against the wall and sighed, resting his head against the cool stones, then he looked up at the numan girl standing over him. Part of his sadness slipped away to reveal a brief spark of post-rejection resentment. "Why do you care? After everything you said to me why do you care about how I feel now? I don't understand."

Oh no. Those illusions. It seemed like Chaz had never figured them out. Rika bit her lip a little and fidgeted with her hands. She had to figure out the best way to explain this without confusing him further. It even sounded like he had met an illusionary version of herself back there in the daze. If it had damaged their friendship in any way then she would definitely make Lassic _pay_.

"Chaz, what you saw in the hallways wasn't quite real. Wren and I had a similar experience back there too. The mists separated us and revealed things that would frighten or confuse, to make us lose our will to fight or to split us up. Don't believe what you saw because it wasn't true. None of it was. It was nothing but lies." She explained to him as simply as she could. Chaz just looked back at her dumbly. That might have been _her_ sitting there had the fake Kyra not been unmasked in time.

"So… you and Wren don't really hate me?" The hunter asked in a meek voice.

"Of course not! You're our leader and our friend, none of us could ever possibly hate you. Even _Rune_ likes you in a big brotherly kind of way." Rika stated vehemently and with feminine firmness, slapping a hand against the wall for emphasis. She watched Chaz allow the information to sink into his mind. All of a sudden he gasped, then immediately sighed with deep profound relief. He wrapped his arms about himself and gave a shaky smile. Rika wanted to give him another hug and reinforce his sense of relief but she didn't, instead turning around to the sound of more footsteps down the hallway.

"Look Chaz, Wren's back. He can tell you that he doesn't hate you himself." Rika smiled as Wren came back from his patrol, walking with a more casual step now that he was no longer on the search for his friends. He was smiling a little, Rune and Kyra walking along behind him. They were all back together now. Chaz nearly jumped up from his sitting position and Rika happily waved to the rest of their party.

"Chaz! Rika! You're okay!" Kyra called from the back of the line, breaking away and rushing up to the other girl. She seemed fine, more than fine actually, she was happier now than when she had first stepped down into the darkness. Rika was ripped away from Chaz's side by a full-bodied hug from Kyra.

"I just found them on the other side of this basement area. Kyra is healthy but Rune requires some medical attention. Rika, with your techniques can you oblige?" Wren reported, meeting up with the two girls and the hunter. Rune stepped up from behind him and waved briefly yet encouragingly with his staff, wordlessly letting everybody know he was okay. The magician was holding a bloody rag to the side of his head, soaking up the bleeding from a nasty-looking head wound.

"Sure, no problem. C'mon Kyra, you can help me. What happened to him?" Rika questioned the esper girl as they walked over to inspect Rune. Wren considerately moved out of the way.

"I had an… uh, 'disagreement' with a chaos sorcerer who was trying way too hard." Rune muttered as the girls came up beside him. He winced as Rika brushed aside his hand and removed the compress from the wound. There was an awful lot of blood. "Ow! It's not as bad as it looks, head wounds just bleed a lot is all. I'm more worried about getting the stains out of my cloak later on."

The wimpy 'ow!' sound that he made caused both girls to giggle. They took him around a corner and set him down, getting the medical equipment out of their inventories. Rune would probably enjoy them playing nurse with him as long as he could ignore all the pain. Chaz sat there in silence. He'd rather have a head injury than a messed up cauldron of emotions and a broken heart. Only… it wasn't _really_ broken now, was it? Rika still liked him, that Rika from earlier hadn't been real.

Well, it had certainly fooled _him_. He needed some time to get his thoughts in order, like, a few months would be nice. Now that he thought about it he had sensed something wrong about that Rika and Wren, like a counterfeit coin. It looked the same and weighed the same, but it was made of different materials and simply wrong. "I'm such an idiot." He murmured, rubbing his temple as if to discourage a headache.

"Hm?" Wren had just been standing aimlessly in the hallway, but when Chaz spoke he turned to him with curiosity. He walked over to where he was sitting and looked down on him. "Is something the matter, Chaz? Are you also damaged?"

The hunter laughed a little, mostly at himself. "I'm okay, I just had a rough time in the tunnels back there. I didn't realise they were illusions. They must be laughing at me so much right now." Wren didn't say anything so Chaz contined, asking the question that needed to be said before he could experience total relief. "I saw another you back there, who I thought was the _real_ you. Do you resent me, Wren? For being in love with somebody else and only liking you?"

"I thought we had already discussed this last night." Wren answered, taking a seat beside Chaz. The boy blushed as he briefly remembered the night before, more than just the conversation they had. He nodded. "I do not harbor any resentment towards you. I am beginning to believe that you deserve Rika more than you deserve me. I just want to enjoy the rest of the time we have left together. When that time runs out I can still be happy for you and Rika. I do not resent you."

The funny thing was that during the illusion Rika leaving him had not been the event which shocked him the most. Somewhere in his cynical mind he had expected nothing more than a rejection, so his feelings had been braced somewhat. He couldn't deny that when she turned away the first thing that had streamed through his brain was; _'I knew it.'_ It had hurt of course, made him cry, but he had been prepared.

It also hadn't been Wren leaving him either, Chaz secretly thought him a saint for staying with him even though the chances of infidelity and a hasty break-up were a near certainty. They were going to go their separate ways someday, he was always prepared for that as well. He cast a sidelong glance at the android sitting next to him, listening to the antics going on around the corner.

What had shocked him most of all was the admission that Wren had been falling in love with him. The illusion was a product of his own mind, fears and desires, so what did _that_ mean to him? Did Chaz _want_ Wren to fall in love with him, even though it probably wasn't possible? The idea had a certain amount of appeal to it but of the fantastical variety, like a daydream of what could never be. Chaz was realistic. If Rika could just like him back then that would be enough of a miracle for him. He wasn't greedy.

Thank gods everything was still okay in reality. The only thing that really troubled him now was a pounding headache from that earlier crying fit. He could hear the girls giggling as they tended to Rune's injury and Rune himself making some no doubt sarcastic comments and weak sounds of torturous pain. They wouldn't be finished for at least another ten minutes. "Wren?" He asked, quietly enough so the others wouldn't be able to hear.

"Yes?"

"The kiss that you owe me from back on the ice digger, do you think I could have it now? Please?"

Wren turned to him and smiled modestly. He had nearly forgotten about that. "Very well." He said in agreement but then he paused when he got a slightly closer look at Chaz. The hunter stared back at him questioningly. It wasn't anything serious. "Just a moment." The machine added and borrowed the hunter's handkerchief again, paternally wiping the boy's face.

"What is it?" Chaz asked, letting Wren do whatever it was that he was doing.

"It's nothing. Your face was just wet." He explained. Oh, from the crying. Chaz couldn't help it, he had just been so upset when he was left alone. It was a little weird though, this was _exactly_ what the other Wren had done for him just before he had been rejected for the second time. At least he was being very gentle about it. When he was done he pulled Chaz closer and progressed with a series of kisses like it was the very last time they were going to do so, and it probably was.

Chaz made little appreciative noises between light breaths, almost a moan or a laugh but neither. Wren was gripping his arm just a shade too tightly, but that made things seem more exciting than anything else. They pulled away just before it became too dangerous to continue, in case the others finished up and wandered back to them or they became too carried away.

"That was worth waiting for." Chaz chuckled, patting Wren gently on the side of his face before pushing himself up to his feet. He stretched to work the stiffness out of his body, so glad that things were better now. The nightmare had been just that, a bad dream which faded with time. "About tomorrow night…"

"What about it?" Wren inquired politely as he looked up at his friend, knowing full well what he was referring to.

"Um, are we still on with that? After we defeat Lassic and stuff?" He couldn't help but blush as he asked. He wasn't used to propositioning people for things, especially for things like _that_, but Wren had mentioned something about it on the ice digger and he couldn't just let that go.

The android appeared innocently thoughtful but Chaz knew it was just an act. He knew _exactly_ what he was talking about. The words of the illusions came back to haunt him for a moment, about Wren being an easy harlot and nothing else, but it was a lie. More than a lie, it was a load of bullshit. He was a system control for an entire star system, a warrior who had proven himself in combat time and again, and a very loyal friend. He was a good person, that was all there was to it.

"I don't see why not. There isn't any reason to cancel it, is there? I would like to see you again very much, if you'd permit me." Wren intoned with a nod. Oh boy, the thought of a repeat of last night made Chaz's mouth go a little dry. All the more reason to win against Lassic, he guessed. As for Wren he knew that _any_ motivator for the boy was enough to get Chaz high-spirited again. He was kind of looking forward to it too.

"You really have changed these past few weeks, Forren." Chaz laughed.

"For the better or for the worse? I have yet to hear you complain about it."

"I'd have to be mad. I like you this way, happy."

Wren seemed like he was very close to actual laughter himself, smiling that sunny smile that Chaz loved so much, when Rune and the two girls came back to join them by the throne room door. Rika and Kyra looked like they had had a whole lot of naughty fun playing nurse with the Lutz. Rune had carefully treated bandages around his head and a scowl on his face.

Good thing that the hunter and the android hadn't been doing anything incriminating at the time. "Hey! Chaz!" Rune shouted out to their young leader, jerking a thumb at the two girls beside him. "You know first aid and the gires technique, don'tcha?" Chaz nodded in silence. "Good! You're going to fix me up next time then! Those two are _sadists_ when they're working together, I'd rather be patched up by a brainless idiot than them again!"

"Is _that_ why you specifically asked Chaz for help?" Kyra suggested in her sweetest tone possible.

"Hey, shut up." Chaz bit back good-naturedly as the party came back together. Despite his crying headache he was feeling pretty much okay now. "Come on, let's go. The bad guy's only one room away. The sooner we do this the sooner it'll be over."

They assembled into their battle positions, weapons drawn. Espers protected, fighters supported, vanguard ready to defend. The door to the final chamber was wide enough to accommodate them all walking abreast. A rank smell washed over them as they entered, devouring them, and there was no going back.

For a moment, and for _only_ one moment mind you, Chaz and Wren held hands, reinforcing the hope that everything would be okay. No more splitting up and walking away into the darkness.

This time they were together.


	20. Another Gate

Lassic's throne room was the very core of the Air Castle, buried deep and buried secret, foul and malignant like a cancer attached to a heart. Light was low and the air was thick and smoky, acrid, tainted by a wide canal of molten lava which bordered the room, glowing a low orange-yellow and crusted in black. That was the source of the light, the smell _and_ the heat.

The over-warm temperature caused their skin to prickle and Kyra had to cover her mouth and nose with her hand, waiting and hoping urgently that she would get used to the sensation. Chaz walked ahead of the rest of the team and had a very cautious look around, prepared for an attack or an ambush should it arrive. The room was certainly large enough to fight in, though he didn't like the look of that lava and the ceiling was astoundingly high; he couldn't even see the roof for the darkness. The spiraling nature of the corridors outside made perfect sense now, they coiled around this main chamber like a two-headed serpent protecting a giant egg.

All in all the heart of the Air Castle felt dead, like a tomb, but also waiting, anticipating; a ghost ready to rise from its grave when the time was right. There was a box waiting for them in the middle of the room. There didn't seem to be anything special or different about it, just the same old thing they saw hundreds of times before in previous dungeons or caves. Maybe that was what put the team of five on edge, because it was just so… well, _ordinary_.

This was hardly the time or the place for sniffing out hidden treasure. They were here to fight against an evil tyrant and recover the eclipse torch. Chaz sheathed his sword and moved up to the chest hesitantly, his four friends right behind him. He had a slight idea of this, but… "This has to be a trap." He said to the others. After the physical torture of his servants and the mental torture in the corridors why not try one last trap to see how it would go?

He looked to Rune. The esper seemed grim. To his senses it felt like the room was watching them, peering inwards, looking at _him_ specifically. He felt exposed but there was nothing they could do about it, they had already come this far already. "Eh, it's possible. It seems obvious enough to be a trap, but if Lassic won't appear until it's sprung what else can we do? Go ahead, open it up and step back." He shrugged, lightly scratching at the bandages wrapped around his head.

The hunter didn't like Rune's blasé attitude towards him risking his neck. If he fell though a trap door or the box released deadly poison gas then he would be _very_ upset and grumpy for the rest of the night, if he wasn't dead already. "How about this? _You_ open it up and _you_ step back. You seem to know more about Lassic than any of us anyway." He suggested firmly.

"Hell no! You're the leader. Go ahead, lead." Rune protested with a smile.

"Would you like me to open it for the both of you?" Wren offered helpfully, hoping to defuse the argument before it took root and grew. That was mainly his purpose here in the group anyway, aside from piloting the Landale he was their yellow mining canary. He could survive something that would otherwise kill any of his weaker teammates.

But that was hardly fair. Just because Wren was built to be virtually indestructible didn't mean it was alright to put him into dangerous situations when it was not his business. Chaz was the leader, not Wren, so the point position was up to him.

"It's alright, I'll do it." He sighed overly dramatically, slumping his shoulders. "If something happens to me you know what to do, Kyra can be my next of kin. She can have all of my earthly possessions when I'm gone."

Rika laughed softly and smiled, instantly brightening up the rather dark mood. Everything about this pit at the base of the Air Castle projected darkness and gloom. "Aw, can I at least have your sleeping bag when you're gone? It's much warmer than mine."

"_Rika!_" Chaz exclaimed, aghast.

"Just hurry up and open the box," Kyra pressed, grabbing Chaz by the shoulder and pushing him forward a bit, "we don't have all night."

"Rune was right, you girls _are_ evil…" The blond boy grumbled as he stepped up to the box and knelt down in front of it. His four comrades wisely moved back, preferably standing behind one another. Chaz felt nervous, but it also felt rather exciting and empowering. He _wanted_ to call Lassic out into the open, he _wanted_ to be the one the slay him, and, despite their silly cowardice, he trusted that should anything bad happen to him the others would jump in and help. They wouldn't just stand back and watch.

Nothing else to do but open the box! Chaz wasn't too confident that it was going to be an early birthday present. It was unlocked and the latches unclasped smoothly enough, he raised the lid up an inch or two and then paused, mentally preparing himself for what might happen. Chaz took a deep breath, leaned back and turned his face to the side, then with one swift movement he flipped the lid up and opened the chest for all to see.

From there stretched a taut, expectant moment of silence. Nothing seemed to happen. Chaz unscrewed his eyes and turned back to the chest, cautiously peering inside. The others heard his sudden, amazingly relieved laugh. He stuck both his hands inside with no fear. "Guys, it's the torch! I've found it! The torch is in here!" And he pulled it out of the chest and stood up, whirling around to show his friends.

None of them had any clear idea of what the torch actually looked like. They had seen it briefly from afar, while the hot-air puffing bishop of Gumbious had shouted at them for the blasphemy of wanting to take it out of their sacred temple. The torch that Chaz held in his hands was a little fire sitting and burning brightly in a clear glass bowl, fitting within the boy's palms snugly. Like the torches which had adorned the lower corridors of the Air Castle it burned brightly without kindling. The orange flames bravely illuminated their shadows within the half-dark.

Rika, Kyra and Rune gathered around the young hunter and examined his find. Wren quietly hung back and kept up a good lookout for danger. The eclipse torch was such a trifling, small thing, it was amazing to consider just how much trouble it had caused with its holy little flame. "But you know," Chaz said to himself out loud as Rika leaned over to examine the artifact, "it doesn't even feel very warm. The glass is still nice and cool."

Rune was frowning at Chaz and unwilling to voice the reason why just yet when Wren suddenly spoke up and offered his opinion. The others listened to him, mostly because it was unusual for Wren to talk without a prompt but generally one pays quite a bit of attention to the giant android holding the cannon. "That does not compute. A flame cannot exist if it is not converting energy to heat." Anything else would disrupt the laws of physics as they were.

"Maybe it's magic?" Chaz offered helpfully as he steeled himself and dipped his thumb into the flame. He had seen Alys do this before as a bit of a parlor trick to amuse and amaze his younger self. After a day's worth of sweat and grime a person could confidently set their thumb on fire for no longer than a second or two, the flames feeding off the fatty oils coating a person's skin. Alys had said that it was a little like lighting a lamp wick.

So he did this now and drew in a sharp breath to blow his hand out a moment later. It didn't really matter, nothing ignited in the end. Chaz touched the eclipse flame and it wasn't hot either, it was just like wafting his hand through a smoky illusion. Magic indeed.

"You can't just blame magic for everything that you don't understand, Chaz," Kyra scolded with a cheeky smile and her hands on her hips, "or else the world is going to get _much_ more magical for you as time goes on. Magic follows laws and principles just like physics do, only it sort of zigzags instead of moving in a straight and narrow line."

"Also the eclipse torch doesn't have an orange flame." Rune announced above all others. He remembered, behind that neurotic bishop it had been sitting there in its bowl upon the pedestal, pulsing an amazing sky blue. He took a step back. "Chaz, I want you to put that fire down on the ground slowly and move away, but be _quick_ about it."

That… what Rune had just said made no sense. It contradicted itself, but Chaz was more concerned with wondering why Rune was speaking to him as if he were holding a ticking bomb. Was it _really_ a bomb? Chaz jerked his hands away as if they had been in contact with poison and the torch dropped to the ground and shattered on the hard stone floor, prompting a little gasp from the boy as the jagged glass spread.

Instead of snuffing out the fire roared. Wren shoved forward and pushed the two girls safely out of the way, while Chaz backed off and placed distance between himself and his friends. "Oh no, this torch is a fake!" He groaned as the flames sprung up and darted about him like a willow-the-wisp, flicking its long tail about behind it. Light trailed it wherever it moved but after a brief flight around the room it smacked into the broken remains of the torch and vanished, seeping into the stone.

Kyra pushed her way back to the forefront of the spectacle and already had her slicer in her hands. "I can sense the presence of a lost and tortured soul. Be careful, it think it's still in h-"

She didn't have enough time to finish her thought. The angry spirit burst through the floor again but this time it had palman form, a being made of pure pale fire hissing and clawing its way out of the ground. Burly and hunched but without a visible head, its most prominent feature was its wickedly hooked claws. It hurt Chaz's eyes to look at it properly because it twisted and flickered, becoming unfocused at every second moment. He drew his sword.

When it saw the flash of high-grade laconia in the shape of a blade the ghostly fire spirit leaned back and uttered a hideous wail, a cry like a beastly monster on the outside but bearing a slight twinge of sentience within, of palmanity that had once been long ago. The blade attracted it, it knew hostility when it saw it. It threw itself toward Chaz in an extremely fluid motion, raising its burning, sputtering arms to strike.

Chaz reacted quickly to the danger and sliced the monster in two. It was a clean cut and swept its way through the beast effortlessly, but it had the same kind of effect as trying to put out a campfire with a pocket knife; it simply didn't make any difference. It came for him so the boy dropped into a crouch and shot ahead under the legs of the monster, only it did not have any real legs to speak of so Chaz passed straight through into the flames.

It was like passing through smoke that only barely, just barely, had mass. His skin crawled and it felt horrible, almost cold without temperature; cold in a much more fundamental sense of the word. The haunting spirit did not turn around, it merely altered its wispy shape so that it was facing the other way. Its back became its front, the joints in its elbows snapped into the opposite direction and its fingers curled backwards, closing into fists.

Rising, Chaz backed away towards his friends as the spirit grew even further in size and blew towards them, hissing like steam escaping into the air. "Move." Wren said flatly and shoved Chaz out of the way, standing in front of his friends and shielding them as well as he could from the monster. He raised his plasma cannon and fired a concentrated burst directly at the spirit, fighting fire with even more fire.

It ate the energy. It was like being fed pure, delicious manna from heaven above. When the burst of superheated plasma smashed into the chest of the spirit with all the force of a sledgehammer it should have snuffed the monster out immediately, that was the only real logical outcome, but things usually turned out differently when dealing with the dead. It absorbed the attack and then seemed to laugh, a deep primal chortle that sounded like gravel or bubbling tar.

"What?!" Wren said, rather surprised, all the flatness in his tone now gone. He had not predicted this kind of outcome at all. There was no time to consider what had gone wrong because a fraction of a second later the creature flicked an arm out like an extended fiery whip, striking Wren hard enough to knock the android over. With him his balance was everything. He was big and he was heavy, once he lost that balance there was nothing stopping him from crashing to the ground.

So Wren went crashing to the ground. Rune and Kyra wisely got out of the way and flanked their enemy on either side, Rune to the left and Kyra to the right. Rika knelt down beside Wren to make sure that her friend was okay, and Chaz was grumpily getting up from where Wren had shoved him over. The two espers knew what they needed to do, they smiled at one another knowingly over the flickering flames. Weapons had no effect, of course something that was material could not affect the immaterial. They each raised a spellcasting hand.

"Hewn!"

"Giwat!"

Kyra's skill struck first, ripping into the haunting spirit and shredding it into an indiscriminate form, a mish-mash of particles and ghostly fire. The monster screamed in pain yet reformed itself in time, only to be struck and struck hard with Rune's giwat technique. Normally this combination of magic would unleash a violent snowstorm that would engulf the entire area, but the two had lagged in synchronization purposefully to prevent that from happening.

The atmosphere was too hot, too heavy, and the lava never would have allowed it. Moreover the melting snow would have made the ground ridiculously slippery. Rune performed his trademark battle-trick and snap froze the spirit in its traumatized state, encasing it in a solid prison of brittle ice. Even like that it wouldn't last very long, not in this kind of heat.

"Hah, he's going to have to do better than that." Rune smirked arrogantly and gripped his staff tightly, pulling his arm back and bringing the ball of his stave down into the monster's lack of a head. Rune wasn't physically strong but the impact was hard enough to shatter the ice. Like the fragments of the broken torch the spirit fell apart and melted away, completely and totally gone.

When Wren sat up from the strike there were trails of smoke and hideous claw marks welded into his front. Thankfully his armor had saved him from serious mechanical injury. He looked to Rika momentarily, who was kneeling by his side and climbed to his feet without aid. Rune was now the center of attention. In the end this conflict could all be traced back to him.

He felt everybody looking at him and smiled reassuringly at Kyra. The esper stepped up to the open chest and started to laugh, finding something terribly amusing. "Lassic!" He shouted as loudly as he could, his voice echoing in the huge, cavernous room. Sweat stood out from his brow. "I know you're out there! Answer me! What are you, a coward?! Why don't you come and fight me instead of relying on your slaves! This is getting old!"

For several moments all they got was the echoing remnants of Rune's booming voice splicing itself into fragments each time it bounced off the stone. The magician was tense, waiting, perhaps even his arms were trembling. Chaz had rarely seen Rune so nervous. If that nervousness could be justified, well, then they were all in for a very long night.

Wren's comparatively quiet voice was a soft counterpoint to Rune's shouting. He held his weapon with both hands and made a slight adjustment to the cannon's settings. "Danger. Enemy is approaching. Please be on your guard." He got into a battle-ready stance.

"I feel it too." Kyra confirmed, sounding worried. Rika looked around in an attempt to anticipate where the enemy would be coming from. Eventually, seconds later as a response to Rune's words they heard laughter, coming from everywhere. Wren could not accurately pinpoint a direction for the sound, it was as if it were emanating from the very walls and floor. The voice sounded dry, aged so much that it seemed practically ancient, but as bitter and as deadly as cyanide.

Instinctively the party of five clustered against one another, shoulder to shoulder and shrinking against that sound. Chaz in particular was holding onto Rika carefully, in all honesty mostly for his own anxiety than hers. Fortunately she did not try to push him away. Her sharp numan eyes were effective for looking through the low light. "There," she informed the others with a slight nod of her head, "look at the lava."

Right behind them it was bubbling and beginning to ripple, hot cracks appearing in the patchy black upper crust. It sort of looked like somebody had been tossing pebbles into it only moments earlier. Something poked out of the fiery waters, dried yet damp and glistening like wet leather. A hand. A mummified hand. Chaz suddenly felt a little faint.

The laughter kicked up a notch as the hand slid forward in the thick superheated soup and found purchase on the edge of the stone floor, digging rotted fingers into the hard surface and using the leverage to push. A figure emerged from the molten canal, decked in a combination of armor and robes yet portraying a thin, skeletal appearance. It was taller than a normal palman, large like a giant scarecrow, and if it had ever been palman in the past it certainly wasn't so now.

Heavy rivulets and globs of bright orange lava fell from its robes and plates of armor as it climbed onto the platform in the center of the chamber, hissing and steaming as they plopped to the ground. Wren detected that Rune had ceased to breathe ever since the enemy had shown its face. His heart rate had increased significantly as well. Understandable, this being was at least twice Wren's own height, but then again this had never stopped any of them before.

"You've finally come… Lutz!" The figure chortled gleefully, rising like a spire up to its full height. It passed a withered palm over its front and wiped a handful of cooling molten stone away. Eyes like bloody, open sores glared at the team from under its heavy metal helmet. It was like being watched by an animated corpse, eyes frozen open by the stiffness of death.

Rune finally started to breathe again, he let out all the stale air with a heavy snort. The grip on his staff tightened considerably, underneath his black velvet gloves his knuckles turned faintly white. "So it was Lassic after all." He said quietly, as if he had been hoping somehow, maybe, that he could have been wrong. Those hopes were now dashed. He _recognised_ that corpse.

The hinge of Lassic's jaw snapped open and closed jerkily as he continued to laugh, his entire voice caked in rust. So the Lutz and his comrades had slain his servants and navigated around all his traps, so what? He was glad of it. In the end it had all brought them down personally to the doorstep of his crypt. "I've waited…" He gasped between his chuckling lack of breath. "I've waited for this moment!"

And the Lutz was now the voice of their team. The others were merely there for his personal support, to rally him. Rune had been there for Zio and Dark Force, it was now time to repay him for that support. If Alis and Odin and Myau were here to see this blast from the past what would they say? How would they feel? Rune, with the ghost and memory of Noah inside of him felt… he didn't know. Maybe that was for the best. "Lassic, why are you reincarnated… like that?" He asked with a slight gesture and grimace to his emaciated foe.

The ancient magician took three weak, shuffling steps towards his enemies. A rancid smell of rotting flesh filled the air and did battle with the volcanic stench of sulfur long before any physical fighting began. Rune's company backed away slightly but Rune stood stock still. "For revenge!" Lassic shouted loudly, almost like a maddened scream. When he spoke again he was back to papery gasping. "Lutz, you… and all who are helping you… will suffer endless pain! I'll kill you all!"

He moved forward again into the better light and unexpectedly grasped at the sleeve of his robe and pushed it back roughly, revealing to the living people in the room the putrid spectacle of his bare lower arm. It was little more than bone and moist raggedy leather covering piano-string muscles and tendons, partially eaten away by worms, maggots and other horrible flesh eaters. Lassic grinned, though his grin was permanent for his lips had long since rotted away. "I will make you like me, like _this_! You too will become tortured souls who can never leave my castle!"

For a moment Chaz tasted vomit on the back of his tongue. Just looking at that decomposing flesh was terrible, but if they lost this battle _that_ would be their fate. Not death but a fate worse than death, actual _undeath_; a hell in life. They had to win, Chaz didn't want to become a zombie. They very thought of him falling apart like that made him feel sick. The hunter swallowed hard. "So that's why you lured us here?" He squeaked.

Lassic shook out his sleeve again much to the relief of his living enemies and bowed to them formally, regally. His back made a brittle cracking sound as he bent over. "Oh joy! You have responded to my invitation!" He giggled, throwing out a hand as if to grasp something invisible. There was a sudden flash of light which burned a nasty after-image onto Chaz's retinas. After a few blinks and when his vision cleared he saw that Lassic was standing up straight again and holding an evil-looking bladed rod in his hands.

He seemed frail but it was still going to be an intensely complicated fight. He swung his rod experimentally, the blades causing pretty streaks within the dark. Satisfied with this, he began to crow. "I have waited two thousand years to cut your throats!"

And then he was upon them with a speed which was surprising for a decomposing old man. Chaz barely had the time to shout; "Here he comes!" before Rune had to parry a rod strike with his own stave and put both his arms into the block to prevent the strike from hitting home. He resisted for a few seconds and then escaped to the side, the blades swooping down onto empty air.

Rika moved like greased lightning and was on the front lines in an instant, leaping forward and scrambling up Lassic's halberd like a tightrope walker and going straight for the prize. She got an arm up and sunk her claw into the exposed nook between the shoulder plate and chest armor, trying to shred out the junction. She couldn't complete the sweep and dig a trench through his body like she usually would, the armor getting in the way. Still, she hoped it hurt.

Lassic seized her and pulled her out of the wound like a troublesome bee, grabbing her around the middle and hurling her away. No blood poured from the opening, he was far too old for that, but Lassic had only a second to decide what came next when something incredibly sharp and bladed sheared into his back, slicing through the metal and biting the flesh. He reached behind himself and yanked out Kyra's slicer, tossing it away as if it were a discarded toy.

It fell close to Wren's ankle as the android dropped to one knee to find the perfect shot, locking-on with the targeting program built into his optical sensors. He fired a blast from his plasma gun but Lassic spread out his ragged yet heavy cape around him like a shield and the cloth ate up the firepower, though Wren was completely unable to explain or rationalize how. The cape swept back and Lassic had pulled his halberd from the ground again, this time pointing it directly at Wren.

Chaz's githu technique punched a hole through the magician's breastplate and went right out the other end but Lassic hardly flinched, he barely even noticed it. All he did was glare at the puny hunter for a second and grin; he'd get back to the boy in a moment. Wren knew he was being targeted and raised his barrier shield in the hopes that it would dampen the attack, but he did not back away. If Lassic got _just_ a little bit closer he could retaliate with his flare weapon.

Certain elements when exposed to Wren's body usually had little to no effect. Fire, ice, gravity, these could only hurt him if he were exposed to these elements for a very long period of time. As such, some magic usually did not concern him, but there were two types of conjuration that really, _really_ hurt. Corrosive acid could eat away and destroy his armor and most precious parts, but even more than that thunder and surplus electricity could dangerously mess him up inside.

It was thunder that leapt from Lassic's bladed staff in blue jagged arcs, nervous explosive energy, seeking out the most conductive target in the shortest amount of time and space. Wren was a lightning magnet, it jumped straight towards him with raw eager fury. There was no way for him to evade the attack; the barrier shield did no good. He could not escape and it was the very first time Chaz had ever heard Wren scream, out of nothing but pure pain.

If it had been himself or Rune they probably would have still been standing when the spell ended. The scream became stuck in Chaz's mind even as the android fell to the ground in a lifeless heap, the gun dropping from his hands and clattering to the side. Were this a non-combat scenario he would have gone over to check on him instantly, but slaying Lassic was their top priority right now. He'd be fine; he could take care of himself. Chaz forced himself to forget about Wren and ran to Lassic's side, trying to both flank him and do it relatively unnoticed at the same time.

Rune made a gesture with his hand and shouted "Nafoi!" as powerfully as he could, drawing their enemy's attention away from Wren and the suddenly elusive Chaz. The esper was his main target and where possible Lassic was going to focus on him. A column of fire showered down upon him and caught in places, melting and burning the dried flesh, peeling back to show more sinew and bone. Lassic groaned, and then he laughed. "Destroying what is already dead has no purpose!" He mocked.

He directed a second thunder strike to Rune and lightning once more leapt from his stave, but instead of bolting through Rune's body in an attempt to get to the floor as fast as possible it saw a more conductive target and claimed that as its own. Rune braced himself anyway for the eventual agony.

Kyra had not thrown her slicer as any kind of attack. It had no target, no destination; all it needed to do was remain in the air. Kyra's slicers were also made of laconia, a conductive metal, and she had never skimped on her physics lessons. Physics followed the straight and narrow, and more often than not it could be more useful than magic sometimes.

The slicer passed between Rune and Lassic's stave and the lightning was attracted to it instantly, embracing the metal and blowing it apart while melting the rest. Rune's only real danger now was from shrapnel. Kyra searched her belt under her cape and pulled out a second slicer, (she always carried a spare) and darted out of the way to arrange her next attack.

Rune saw Kyra dart away and realized that she had really saved his hide. He would have to thank her later. For now though he took his staff and touched the end to the floor, scrawling something invisible and muttering under his breath. When he was done Rune looked up and tapped the floor hard with his weapon, intoning the word "Gigra!" as he did.

It ensnared Lassic in a heavy gravity field and for a few moments the magician could not move, the pressure of many tons bearing down upon him. Chaz was nearly caught in the field himself as he edged around to Lassic's back, meeting up with Rika coming around the other side. She didn't seem hurt but she _did_ seem surprised to see Chaz crouching there. "Chaz?" She asked.

"Good, you're here." The hunter said curtly in a no-nonsense manner. He was completely focused on what he was about to do; now fighting in his zone. The personality change that happened to him during complicated fights had already taken place. Rika felt like she was the only one who had ever actually noticed it, when the boy suddenly became the leader. "Come and give me a leg up. I need to jump and I can't do it like you can. Hurry!"

He put an arm back and rested the flat of his longsword heavy against his shoulder. He was certainly planning something. Rika dropped down to one knee and held out her hand for Chaz to take. The hunter grasped it and entrusted his balance to her, placing one boot on her shoulder and the other tensed on the ground for kick-off. "Are you ready?" She asked, thankful that Chaz was relatively light.

"Yeah, let me go at the count of three. One… two… three!"

At that Rika uncoiled her legs and stood up as fast as she could with Chaz's weight on her shoulder, pushing up with her arm as well and letting go of Chaz's hand at the very height of her push. It was a rather simple acrobatic maneuver but it could still go awry. The boy jumped from his platform upon Rika and raised his sword, biceps bulging as he held his weapon up like a baseball bat.

It was a skill that Chaz had only recently begun to experiment with. He sprang up to the correct height and with a feral cry he brought his sword down in a crescent chopping motion, cutting cleanly through the dark magician's neck. He didn't even have to use half the amount of strength that he did; it wasn't any tougher than chopping through sponge. Lassic's head was suddenly divorced from his body, tumbling down and rolling away a short distance from his home.

Chaz himself landed gracefully on his feet, then he and Rika moved away as the headless body wobbled on its legs, freed from Rune's gravity spell, and fell boneless onto its back. Its blue-red cloak billowed around him almost in slow motion as it made the heavy, armor-rattling thump. Not a single drop of blood leaked from the severed neck veins, its cold black heart completely dry.

Then there was silence. Chaz and Rika jumped over Lassic's still body to get to Rune and Kyra, standing there and staring at their leader's clean handiwork. Chaz was breathing a little heavily from the excitement and the adrenaline getting ready to be flushed from his bloodstream. "Are you two alright?" He asked, sheathing his sword.

"Yes, we're fine." Kyra assured them. "What about you?"

"We're not hurt." Chaz replied, then they all went over to the member of their team who had not been so lucky. They moved over and examined him to see if he was okay. Chaz got there first and knelt down by his side, Rika joining him seconds later with Rune and Kyra standing behind them. Wren was lying there completely unconscious, it just looked like he was taking a nap. Chaz lightly placed a hand on his brow but couldn't really check his temperature, as there was no point. "Hey, Wren. Are you okay? Can you hear me?" He asked gently.

"It was a pretty powerful bolt that hit him." Rune commented, still slightly on his guard. He wasn't an expert at this, but he thought that if Wren wasn't dead then he'd probably wake up on his own. If not Rika could have a go at fixing him with his spare repair kit. If nothing changed then, well… then that would just be a shame.

"But not powerful enough to kill him, right Rika?" Chaz asked his friend in a remarkably even tone. It had only been one spell. Wren couldn't be killed by one singular spell.

Rika shrugged. She didn't know. At that very moment Wren opened his eyes, immediately awake. He could feel a gentle pressure on his forehead and looked to the left where Chaz and Rika were kneeling. He blinked once, slowly. It seemed like the battle was now over and they were still all there, still alive. "Hello Chaz. That experience was quite painful. I am sorry that I was not able to be of great use to you." He apologized.

But just hearing him speaking now was enough. Wren sat up carefully and performed a quick diagnostic to make sure he had no serious internal injuries. His emergency shutdown system had activated the moment the bolts had ripped through his body, floodgating the surplus electricity before it could reach somewhere vital. Nevertheless he still felt very frayed and unstable on the outside.

He reached up and rubbed his head lightly but found his arm pinned there when Chaz leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the android, giving him a hugely relieved hug. It was a pretty public display of affection; the others were right there next to him. Wren let Chaz hug him for about five seconds and then attempted to push the boy away. "Chaz, please. Let go of me." He requested quietly with a small smile.

Chaz didn't want to do that but he knew it was for the best. He released his friend and stood with the others, while Wren took an extra second to get up and retrieve the gun he had temporarily lost when he broke. "What have I missed?" He inquired as he checked the weapon over for damages.

"Chaz lopped his head off. I think all we have to do now is find the _real_ eclipse torch and head back to Dezoris." Rika explained as she took Chaz's hand. It seemed strange that such a deadly enemy could be killed so easily, but then again nobody was trying to murder them anymore so that was good. The young hunter seemed rather proud of his achievements.

"This doesn't seem right…" Rune frowned as he leaned against his staff. The last time he had fought against Lassic had been at least _ten_ times harder than this. He had expected more. He had almost been _hoping_ for more. After two thousand years of waiting he should have packed more tricks up his sleeve. The esper looked to the corpse and wondered. Perhaps he still did.

And when Lassic started to laugh again somehow it actually made Rune feel _better_. The laughter was more localized this time and harsher, a hacking cough tinged with slight pain. Kyra was the bravest or possibly the most curious and she tiptoed over to the body, but remained a comfortable distance away.

The severed head was laughing at them. Lassic's jaw kept tapping the ground and threatened to fall away from the rest of his skull but that did not seem to be of his concern. "You fools…" He gasped helplessly as he glared up at Chaz and his team. "You pitiful, damned fools. You cannot kill what is already dead. You cannot hurt what is already dead. _You cannot stop what is already dead!_"

His laughter became a series of long, deep, screaming howls. As this occurred a white fluid began to leak from his cut jugular and other neck veins, something thick and clumpy that looked like off-white rice. It was only when a long, shiny multi-legged centipede crawled out from the cavity in his throat that Kyra realised what the white stuff was. Maggots, still alive and messily squirming, they started to pour from Lassic's giggly mouth like grainy vomit. Kyra shrieked and stepped away, backing up against Rune's front.

Chaz and Rune had gone considerably paler and Rika turned her head to look away. Only Wren seemed relatively unaffected by this grotesque display of necrosis. He walked over to the fallen magician and briefly wondered what the results of this scenario would be like if he drew a leg back and kicked the severed head all the way across the room. He did not follow up this line of inquiry, instead he pointed the end of his cannon directly into his enemy's face. "However, it is possible to destroy that which has no life. I do not fear the fate you have planned for us."

Lassic smiled up at the android and with a long blackened tongue he spat out the body of a fat hairy spider. It promptly scurried away. "You do not fear eternal torment, of course not, the things that golems fear are few and far between. But I do know of your fears, young one, I have seen to them just as I have seen to everybody else's…"

Wren did not change expression but the admission intrigued him. "This is irrelevant. Let us see how sharply you can think without a head nearby." There was a tiny, barely audible click as Wren applied pressure to the trigger, only the slightest feather-touch more would set off his large weapon.

The body moved independently of Lassic's head, which continued to grin at Wren and the rest of his team. The arms moved, fingers stretching and flexing as if to coax feeling back inside, then the body sat up of its own accord. The gaping, drooping neck reminded Chaz of a plucked headless chicken, or, and a cold chill ran down his spine as he thought this, it also reminded him of a wide open mouth permanently locked in a scream. More maggots beaded at the cut, worming their way out of the woodwork to see what was going on.

Wren did not shoot. Like the others he was suddenly more concerned with the actions of Lassic's body rather than his head. "I am perennial; unkillable." The ancient tyrant boomed as he stood up proudly, with barely a wobble to his balance. "In my castle I am omniscient, and all who walk between these walls are subject and indebted to my will. My power is not of this dimension or world."

"Narcissistic much?" Rune quipped, calm as Lassic bent over to retrieve his lost head. Clumps of unmentionable things dripped from Lassic's throat as he picked it up from the ground. Raising his arms the magician pressed the two wounds together, the flesh, skin, veins and spinal column recombining with a wet meaty sound.

"Allow me to show you the extent of my influence," He taunted, making a gesture with his hand and summoning his halberd back to his side. He looked down at Wren who was ready to blast a hole in him at the slightest provocation, but he was listening as well. Lassic raised his weapon up high. "And you, golem, allow me to give you the opportunity to fear!"

From the tip of his halberd's blade there came a blinding flash of pale blue light, for a second completely blinding everybody until all they could see was blue. Lassic disappeared, the surrounding area disappeared, and all that remained were a pair of huge red eyes glaring, unblinkingly staring.

For a moment it felt like something had tried to grab Wren, with arms strong and somehow more powerful than his own, but it had slipped and couldn't quite get a good hold of his body; of his mind. It let go. The android speculated that his brain waves were incompatible with whatever Lassic was trying to do to him. He blinked and the eyes were gone along with the bright blue flash.

He had no damages and that was fortunate. Wren glanced to his friends standing nearby but only Rika met his gaze, the girl blinking and trying to get the white after-images out of her vision. Beside her Chaz was standing perfectly still and quiet, his eyes all glazed over. The boy's hand dropped from Rika's lifelessly. It was like he had fallen asleep with his eyes open while standing up, or like he had become a living zombie.

Rika looked back at Wren with confusion and then noticed Chaz. She waved her hand across his face briefly to get a reaction but the hunter didn't flinch, he did not even blink. Rune and Kyra were also standing there with equally glazed expressions on their faces. "Chaz?" She asked, worried. "Chaz, are you okay?"

Before them Lassic lowered his staff and was pleased with the results of his spell. Three out of five was not bad for a successful possession and he had not expected the golem to be affected anyway. He wanted him to watch. Even better than that he had the Lutz's strings in his hands now and he was ready to make him _dance_.

"Why are you not affected, Rika?" Wren asked calmly although he was worried as well.

"I don't know, it just didn't want to grab me. It went straight through me instead." She confessed, and was it just Wren's optics playing up on him from the flash, but did the white flower in Rika's hair seem brighter than usual? She grabbed Chaz and gave him a light shake. He did not respond. "Come on, Chaz! Wake up!"

"You there, boy," Lassic ordered with obvious glee, "kill the pretty woman beside you. Gut her with your blade." He turned to the two espers standing there and waiting for orders. "You, woman, take apart the golem with your weapon and your magic. Lastly, Lutz, I have a special fate just for you. Go and kill yourself. Have a lava bath, but _do_ take your time. I command you all, go!"

Wren and Rika shared an unspoken query within a glance. That made no sense, why would Chaz and the others obey-

Chaz, Kyra and Rune suddenly animated themselves as if they were marionettes being pulled by invisible strings. The doll-like, strangely unbalanced way that they moved made them seem less like people and more like fleshy objects. Rika's reflexes kicked in and she intercepted Chaz's wrist before he could stick one of his daggers into her chest. His hand had been steady and unimaginably strong, stronger than before.

He looked at her blankly as Rika shoved him away, but he didn't waste a second and came at her again with two knives this time, slashing and stabbing with almost mechanical dedication and indifference. Rika could barely evade and block the heated attacks, each motion increasing the height of her panic. "Chaz!" She shouted as the knife blade narrowly missed cutting out a piece of her ear. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He did not hear her. If anything it made his next assault even stronger.

Wren turned sharply on his heel and moved to save Rika from Chaz and possibly stop them from hurting one another, but he only managed to take three or four steps before he was hit with an immobilizing, forceful pain. He was shoved to the ground, his weapon knocked from his hands and striking the floor as if it had been attracted by a magnet. The cables which connected his gun to his arm tore, he had no choice but to cut off the electricity immediately or risk setting off sparks.

Lowering her hand after she had cast the gravity spell Kyra walked over to her target flattened against the ground. Wren pushed himself up on his hands and knees underneath the great pressure, but winced in pain and uttered a soft gasp as Kyra buried one prong of her bladed slicer deep into his back. The quality of his armor was weaker than that of her weapon, so with enough force the girl penetrated his defenses and stabbed him deep down into his inner circuitry.

Rune did not attack anybody. His only target was himself. His hand went limp and his staff clattered to the floor, rolling a few feet away. The esper's usually icy blue eyes were now pale and vacant, seeing but no longer comprehending. Slowly and deliberately he began to walk to the edge of the chamber, to the bubbling lava that Lassic had emerged from. If he disappeared into those depths not only would it kill him and burn him alive, he would become part of Lassic's undead ranks for the rest of eternity.

And the only two people capable of helping him were preoccupied with their own problems. Wren clanked back onto the floor when Kyra stabbed him and he heard and felt a horrible rough grating noise when Kyra wrenched the weapon out of his back again. He needed to move, had to get out of the way before she punched open enough holes to turn him into a sieve, but the gravity was too effective in pinning him there. Wren was just too heavy to escape.

Still, he managed to raise his head and look up to Chaz and Rika engaged in a duel of their own. The numan girl was actively fighting back now but she was trying her hardest not to hurt him, while Chaz wasn't concerned with such trivial matters in the slightest. Wren knew that they both loved one another. If one managed to hurt the other the guilt and remorse would be great for the attacker, but if they did not defend themselves either they could wind up dead.

Wren cared for Rika almost as if she were a daughter to him, and of course he cared for Chaz deeply just as a lover should. He was the useless third wheel which prevented them from admitting their feelings to each other, but he could have some use to them if he saved their lives. He did not want to lie here and be forced to watch his friends die.

Kyra raised the slicer a second time to stab him again but Wren tapped into all the strength he could access at the moment and pushed himself upright again. He escaped the gravitational field and ran to the numan girl and the hunter, just as Chaz sheathed his twin daggers back into his belt in a smooth, professional manner and drew his sword. It gleamed in the low light, almost hungrily as he jabbed it at Rika, and this time he did not miss.

"_Chaz, stop_!" Wren yelled as Rika leaned back to avoid another dagger strike in-between defensive blocks, but Chaz was no longer wielding a dagger; he was carrying a sword. She did not skid back far enough. The very moment the android shouted the boy executed his attack and buried the blade of his laconia sword halfway to the hilt in Rika's stomach, piercing cleanly through her armor.

The scene froze. Even in the hot, volcanic air a chill seemed to pass through the room. Rika went as white as a sheet, the pain hit her like a meteor strike only two seconds after the sword impaled her flesh. Blood dripped down the length of the blade in a gentle patter, then a much heavier stream. Chaz showed no emotion at all, even when Rika's blood spilled over onto his hand and wrist. She made a weak, pitiful sobbing sound and she lost strength in her legs, but that only pushed her further onto Chaz's cold steel.

Her sob became a cry of deeper pain when Chaz deemed he had held her up long enough and yanked out the sword in one quick motion, withdrawing it just as quickly as it had gone in. There was some sort of murderous beauty to it. With nothing holding her up Rika crumpled down into a little pile, bleeding and mewing in quiet agony. Chaz dropped his bloody sword and it fell beside her. It was done. He had obeyed Lassic's order well.

It was only a matter of time now before Rika would die.


	21. Another Gate II

Like so many events in Chaz Ashley's small little life it was something that was never meant to happen. Rika's blood dripped warmly from his fingertips as he stared blankly at his handiwork, vacant and yet seeing, the information registering in his brain as a scrambled jumble which held no meaning to him. He sensed that somebody was coming up behind him. He turned his head slowly to look.

For Wren many things had occurred and it was quite a trial to keep track of all of them, it filled up most of his taskbar. Rika had been critically wounded by Chaz and he needed to get to her as soon as possible and perform first-aid procedures, and Chaz himself needed attention as he was clearly not in his right mind. However, Wren was aware that Chaz's condition was not singular and that Kyra and Rune were also affected, the former actively targeting him as an enemy. To top it all off Lassic had not yet been eliminated as a possible threat.

Needless to say he had a lot on his plate right now. Chaz watched him with that glazed expression as Wren approached him, then the slightest of motions caused the corner of his mouth to twist upwards into a smile. The android grabbed Chaz by the upper arms and glared back over his shoulder to check out the scene. Kyra was staring at him and Rune was looking at nothing at all as he slowly shuffled to the edge of the platform. Lassic merely watched with a permanent smile stamped onto his face, his possession spell requiring effort to maintain.

Wren didn't hold Chaz for long; he nudged him out of the way and went straight for Rika, dropping to his knees and removing her armor with precise haste. Their armor produced in the heartland of Dezoris could withstand just about any kind of enemy attack, but it had never been taken into consideration that the armor would need to repel their _own_ weapons as well. In this case Chaz's sword had been top-of-the-line, able to cut through anything.

Rika's armor fell away in a series of complicated plates, revealing her tight black bodysuit underneath. Wren worked quickly and reached around to snag a gleaming dagger from the hunter's belt that he knew lay there. He did not think that Chaz would protest and he didn't. With the knife he cut into Rika's clothing and removed a patch of clothing very carefully covering the wound, examining and gauging the extent of the injury.

He hesitated when he saw the results of the sword strike, his worst fears confirmed. Internal and external bleeding with moderate organ damage. Nevertheless, he tried to staunch the bleeding and treat her but it was a difficult thing to do on one's own. Rika moaned when she felt the sharp pressure. If only Chaz could do more than just stand there like a brainless idiot, if they didn't do something soon the girl was going to bleed to death! She hardly had five minutes left to her name.

Above them Chaz barely paid any attention to his bleeding love and his diligent lover trying hard to save her life. He was watching Kyra as the girl slowly approached. His mission was complete but she still had hers to do, and he was not going to stand in her way. _Kill him_. Lassic whispered in an immaterial voice, Chaz whispered, Rune whispered. _Kill the golem then kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself…_

To be nothing was bliss, to give yourself to another and expect nothing but calm, gentle disassociation. Nothing mattered anymore, there was no soul. That was the dark magician's spell. Chaz stood back and waited for Kyra to come, but in the meantime his steady puppeteered hand came up to grasp the last dagger concealed in his belt. There was no more use in this world for him, not anymore.

But Wren had kept half an eye, or more accurately a few sensors left on Kyra for observation, for when she got too close. He had to remove his hands from Rika's wound and the bleeding continued unrestrained, but with bloody hands Wren stood and grabbed Kyra's wrist just seconds before she could cast another spell. He applied pressure, squeezing until the pain must have been unbearable and her bones were on the verge of snapping, yet she did not even bat so much as an eyelid at him.

There was simply no time to engage in a long, complicated duel between the esper girl. He had to get back to Rika as soon as possible. Wren released Kyra and shoved her away, but before she could recover her balance the android closed the distance between them and attacked. It was unethical to hit a woman but he still pulled back his fist and struck a blow to the side of her head, hitting Kyra hard enough to knock her out and leave only a deep bruise.

The moment after the blow landed awareness came back into her eyes, short-lived as they slipped closed and she fell to the ground in unconsciousness. Good, so that was one thing out of the way. A strong enough shock seemed enough to shake his friends from their zombie-like state. Kyra and the others were not zombies, not objects, and not machines. For Wren, as a machine himself it was unnerving to see his friends behaving in such a way. He relied on them to remain palman, because that was all he could never be.

He had medicine in his inventory but that wouldn't be of any use; the wound was too deep and critical. It would be like wrapping a bandage around an untreated snake bite and just hoping for the best. Wren did not have the equipment nor the appropriate medical training to save her. Rika was going still now, becoming quiet as her consciousness threatened to slip away. "Rika!" Wren said firmly, trying to keep her in this world. "Rika, listen to me! You must stay awake!"

"… I … ah… hurts…" The girl whispered back faintly, probably losing track of where and when she was. She sounded so sleepy, so weak, and there was _so_ much blood on the floor…

And it was getting everywhere, too. Wren raised a hand for a moment to brush hair out of his eyes and accidentally left a bloody smear across the side of his face. He wasn't certain what to do, he couldn't quite think of a way to save her. He did not know any restorative techniques save for his own. If only Demi were here, or if only Chaz were capable of assistance. He wasn't an exceptional healer but he would have to do. "Rika, please stay with me! Please respond!"

Her response wasn't so much as word than it was merely a noise which sounded like a word. It sounded like she was trying to call for Seed. That really affected Wren for some reason, made him feel something that was almost as strong as what he felt for Chaz, but different. Seed had entrusted Rika's future to him and if he failed now… it would be more than losing somebody he cared deeply for, it would be like losing a part of himself.

So in those moments Wren honestly felt afraid. He turned to Chaz for help, looking up at the youth standing quietly by his side. He paused suddenly, relaxing the pressure on Rika's wound just a little. The hunter had his short-bladed dagger clasped in both his hands, raising the point of the blade carefully up against the hollow of his throat. He tilted his head back invitingly.

Rika dropped down a priority on Wren's list. There was not much he could do for her but he at least could stop Chaz from hurting himself. The knife pierced Chaz's skin and could have sunk in deeper to slice into his veins and puncture his throat had Wren not grabbed Chaz's wrist roughly, firmly, and stayed his hand. The dagger was drawn back but not nearly far enough. "What are you doing?" The android asked even though the answer was obvious.

Chaz just looked at him blankly and attempted to bring the knife back to slit his own throat again. Wren had trouble holding the boy back, all of a sudden he was just so unnaturally strong that it could be nothing other than Lassic's influence. There was no time, Wren had to stop him without hurting him but he didn't know how. A weak stream of blood began to trickle down Chaz's throat as the knife bit in deeper.

Wren's other hand which trailed the torn connector wires came up but instead of wrapping it around Chaz with the other to restrain him the android did something very different instead. He placed his hand on top of Chaz's gently and spoke in the same soft tone that the boy seemed to love so much, that in normal circumstances would have set off a warm feeling in the midst of the hunter's chest. "Chaz, please. Listen. Think of nothing else save for what I am saying. I would like you to look at me."

That was nothing something that Chaz was capable of doing while trapped under Lassic's spell, just as Wren's words were unable to reach his forebrain intact. He no longer understood sophisticated speech, but the dark-haired machine had already guessed that. The words were not important so much as his voice was, to relax him. It passed straight through his forebrain but his hindbrain caught onto it timidly, the only thing Chaz had left to keep himself Chaz. Wren's voice reminded him of good things and he experienced the altogether distant yet pleasant sensation of the android brushing his thumb over Chaz's knuckles. He relaxed.

It was enough to pull the knife safely away from Chaz's throat. He wasn't hurt very badly, the shallow cut upon his neck was barely a scratch. Wren knew what to do next but he was momentarily sidetracked by an unusual emotion, seeing Chaz standing there so trapped and helpless made him want to actually take up the boy in his arms. It was merely an impulse, not strong enough for him to consider it as an option, but it made things slightly harder for Wren to draw his hand back and slap Chaz smartly across the face.

But he did it anyway, leaving a faint handprint high up on the hunter's cheekbone made mostly from the blood on his hands rather than the force of the impact. Chaz grunted and dropped the knife, his face tilted to the side from the blow. When he looked back there was anger and hurt in his bright green eyes, cradling his stinging cheek. "W-what the hell was _that_ for?" He demanded loudly. "Geez!"

The android didn't reply but Chaz stopped and started when he noticed the blood. There was an awful lot of it on Wren's armor, hands and face. He could also smell faint traces of it in the air. Immediately he realised that his own hands were wet and when he looked down at them the boy screamed. What had happened? Only a second ago he and the others had been talking to Lassic! "What's going on? Blood… this is blood! I-is it mine?" The thought of that made his head swim a little.

"Perhaps some of it. Chaz, we must act quickly. Help me save Rika, her pulse is too weak. Please heal her." Wren said curtly as he attended to the fallen numan again. The brief interval alone had not been good for her, her heart was practically running on empty now and she had lost her consciousness.

When Chaz saw Rika lying on the ground beside his bloody sword all the pallor drained away from his face to match her own. He had his bright moments now and then, he put two and two together in a matter of seconds. The bloody sword, his bloody hands, the seemingly missing portion of time, and the love of his life lying there and dying by inches. Chaz burst into tears and let out a long, tortured wail, grabbing the sides of his head in shock.

He was not responding in the speed of which Wren preferred. He could not tolerate it when somebody else's life was at stake. He grabbed Chaz by his belt and ignored the pitiful sound the hunter was making, pulling him down to his own level. "Compose yourself or I will slap you again!" He threatened sharply, detecting Rika's heartbeat or in this case the lack of it. No heartbeat, no pulse, no blood left to spill.

They couldn't give up on her. They had to jog her heart into working again, somehow! "Ply your healing technique to her wound and I will try to restart her heart. If there is no marked success then you must attempt cardio pulmonary respiration upon her." He instructed as he took the dropped knife again and made further cuts to her black bodysuit in order to expose more skin. Meanwhile Chaz, with tears dripping down his cheeks and streaking the blood-mark like cheap makeup placed his hands above the wound and began a shaky gires treatment.

Hundreds of years ago in the Motavian military Wren had picked up a trick or two through careful observation. He had seen platoon medics use defibrillation to jump-start biological soldiers using an electrical overload to stimulate the heart. Furthermore, he had also seen other androids use electrical charges to save lives in tight situations. The spark skill which he bore could kill other machines but could potentially save the life of his friend. It was worth a try, even though he had no certain idea of what he was doing.

Chaz was trying to treat the wound and not having much success when Wren coaxed an electrical surplus into his hands and held them over Rika's partially exposed chest. Chaz looked up to see what was going on and flushed a deep red when he saw more of Rika than he had ever expected to see. "Y-you can't touch _those_…" He protested weakly, losing hope.

"Do not touch Rika while I am attempting this." Wren cautioned then waited a moment for Chaz to relinquish contact, pressing his hands against her chest, touching skin to metal. Her whole body convulsed from the shock, lifting off the ground for a moment before flopping back to where it had been. No response from her heart. Wren pumped her chest half a dozen times while he tried to withdraw more electricity from his stores. Still nothing.

The situation was extremely tense. Chaz was trembling horribly as he watched the android trying vainly to resuscitate his love. His own heart was beating like a tribal drum, full and deep and rapid. He could practically hear it hammering with his own ears. For the second time Wren forced electricity through the girl's body with the same result; nothing. No heartbeat, no breathing, no pulse. She… she was dead.

And it looked like he had killed her.

"_Stop!_" Chaz cried out pitifully, his emotions and panic getting the better of him. He knew that he was losing it but he couldn't stop himself and frankly he didn't care. He dove out in front of Wren towards Rika and held the quiet, lifeless girl in his arms, hugging her to his chest and sobbing. She was so soft, still warm, but it would not take long for it to change. She was really, truly gone. He couldn't believe it, he couldn't…

"_No!_" He bawled and shook her as if to resuscitate her that way, disturbing the pristine white flower which had been threaded into her hair. It fell to the ground practically unnoticed. "Rika, please! Wake up! I love you! _Please wake up!_"

"I am very sorry. I could not get to her in time." The android said beside him in a quiet and odd tone. He felt responsible, but he might as well have been talking to the wall for all that Chaz heard of him. For the hunter the world had narrowed down into a fine aisle and Wren was no longer a part of it. Kyra, Rune and Lassic were also no more than just a memory. Kyra still lay on the floor, harmless, while Rune was on the verge of his death.

Lassic was enjoying the show. He couldn't cast a fresh spell without canceling out his delightful possession snares and he didn't care about the other people save for the Lutz; they were merely extras. Rune was on his way into the soupy firewater but he had to take his time, after two thousand years burning in hell Lassic wanted to see a revenge worth waiting for. The heat was so intense around the edge of the platform that Rune was sweating heavily, making it seem like he had been in a light rain, blue hair limply plastered to his face.

He was standing on the very edge, one more step would lead him into death. Lassic urged him on silently, the perverse pleasure he gained from this act one of a kind. _Go on…_ He whispered. _Jump in… Take the plunge… Your dead friends are waiting for you back in hell… Go see them… Die… die… die…_

When the white flower fell from Rika's hair it landed in a small pool of the girl's blood. It didn't stain, it remained as clean and pure as when it had been growing innocently in the snow, or when it had lain in Raja's hand when he had placed his blessing and a prayer over the petals. If only the priest were there now, he'd be able to set everything right. What they needed now was a miracle, only a miracle would be able to turn this battle around.

Wren was the only one in the correct position to see the flower fall. Chaz was sobbing and pressing Rika hard against his chest, Kyra was unconscious and Rune was out of touch. His eye was attracted to the stark whiteness, unique compared to the rest of the dark in the room. When it touched Rika's spilled blood it flashed, that was the best way Wren was able to describe it, but it wasn't necessarily a visual phenomenon; it was something else.

For a brief moment the perfume of the white snow flower swept through the room like a fresh gust of wind, washing out the sulfur, the rotting flesh and the scent of blood. Vanilla engulfed the room and then vacated just as quickly as it had arrived.

Chasing it right afterwards was the sound of laughter, hearty and ambient, but this time not the work and rusty grating of Lassic. Wren and Chaz lifted their heads when they heard the unexpected noise, confused, for they too recognised the sound.

Raja.

The flower evaporated and converted itself into a bright green light, bouncing up from the ground as if it were made of rubber and launching itself high into the air. A trail of soft, feathery sparks followed it about wherever it went like a comet's tail. It continued to rise until it seemed no more than a small moon in the sky, then with a pulsing green supernova of energy it erupted into five smaller comets and trailed down again, seeking out and striking into its respective targets.

The first one dove into Kyra and settled into her body like an invading spirit, meeting no resistance whatsoever. A second later the esper girl sat up from where she was lying and rubbed at her head in confusion, wondering where she was. The next one smacked into Rune's chest and knocked the Lutz onto his backside, thankfully _away_ from the current of molten lava. Rune blinked. He was himself again and suddenly everything seemed clearer… clear.

Wren wasn't sure whether to recoil or allow the alien lights to touch him, or let it anywhere near his internal systems. The choice wasn't really his, there was no way he could repel the light anyhow. When it whispered down upon him nothing horrible happened, only his systems came in contact with an unknown input and then just… reset themselves. As the light faded from his body his sensors now told him that his system was back to optimal condition. It was as if that lightning strike never had happened.

The last two streaks of energy were meant for Rika and Chaz. The young hunter lost interest in the light very quickly and dropped his head back to where it had been before, pressed against his lost love. It didn't matter anymore, nothing did; Rika was gone. What did he matter either? It would be better if Lassic just killed him now and put him out of his pitiful misery. Maybe he could do it himself, after all he had a knife at the ready and knew _exactly_ which arteries to cut…

But then it felt like something warm touched him through his back and an equally warm sensation brushed down against his arms. It made things feel better, somehow. An overwhelming feeling of peace flowed over him like warm water, telling him in an unbroken loop of reassurance that everything would be okay. _It's alright, don't despair, everybody is here for you. Everybody loves you. It will be okay…_

Chaz relaxed and let out a shuddering sigh. Raw emotion just poured from that long, breathy sound. Thoughts of suicide left his mind but no amount of good feelings could make him forget about the girl in his arms. All it was able to do was bring him some calm, some semblance of composure. He had loved Rika so very much…

"Chaz…"

If only things had been different…

"Chaz!"

If he could just get one last, second chance he'd never make the same mistakes twice…

"_Chaz!_ Let go of me! You're squeezing me so tight I can't breathe!" Rika complained, squirming.

It was then that he realised the lifeless bundle in his arms wasn't so lifeless anymore. Chaz pulled away and his eyes went as wide as saucers when Rika looked back at him grumpily. He was so surprised, in fact, that he dropped her. The girl made an 'oof' noise as she thumped to the floor and that just made her grumpies even greater. One minute Chaz had been attacking her despite her protests and the next he was trying to squeeze the very life out of her instead.

Wait, hadn't she been in horrendous acute pain moments earlier? Rika was no longer sure, maybe it had been a dream after all. She propped herself up on her elbows and realised that she was lying in a puddle of drying, sticky liquid. Along with that there was blood all over Chaz and Wren too. They were both looking at her strangely, the hunter far more so than the android. Rika became concerned. "Hey are you both okay? Chaz, you're crying."

"Y-you're the one that I'm worried about, Rika…" Chaz breathed as he reached up and wiped the tears away from his face. He smiled shakily, unable to believe that the girl was still alive to speak with him. She didn't even seem hurt anymore, the bare patch of her stomach where the wound had been was smooth and flat again. It didn't make any sense but he was not one to question a miracle. "I thought you were dead! You were dead just a minute ago!" He cried.

"Well I'm okay now, no thanks to you. You turned into a zombie then you stabbed me!" Rika proclaimed back to him, her memory returning. It was nice to see that Chaz had come back to reality but she was still miffed at him for attacking her in the first place. She looked down at herself and uttered a little squeal, sitting up and desperately trying to cover herself with her arms. "Eek! Who cut up my _clothes_?"

Before anybody could answer her Lassic started to howl. His perfect spell had been broken and the Lutz was no longer his to control, Rune getting up and stumbling away from the lava, running to where he had dropped his precious staff. No time for questions about what the hell had happened to him, if the furious howl Lassic was making meant anything then he wasn't going to remain idle for long.

Kyra rose to Rune's side as he retrieved his lost weapon and turned to face the black magician. Meanwhile Wren was helping Chaz up as the poor boy looked like he was going to faint at any minute, and Rika was hastily re-equipping armor to hide the cuts in her clothing. Why did Rune feel like he had been walking around in the desert for an entire day? And _why_ on Dezoris had it felt like Raja had been following him all the way?

"Have we been… sleeping? I feel like I've been asleep." Rune commented, wiping sweat from his brow. He had that odd groggy and dim sensation he usually got after a long nap. He actually had a bit of a craving for his morning cup of tea.

"I know I just woke up lying on the floor. I can't believe I did that." Kyra yawned. Some fearless warriors laughed in the face of their enemies but Kyra just yawned at them. Maybe she'd make Lassic feel sleepy instead.

"I hate it when that happens." He agreed as the other three joined their ranks, Rika a second or two behind and still tightening a buckle on her armor. Her usually pale blue cape was soaking wet and discolored to burgundy. Rune turned to Chaz. "What happened while we were out?"

"You do not wish to know." Wren answered in Chaz's place, because obviously he had a better idea than the hunter ever would.

"You fools!" Lassic screamed when his howls came to an end. "I offered you a relatively painful death and you have rejected it! In that case I will send you all far away from here, to the place where my master resides!" He raised his bladed halberd and began to chant a foul-sounding spell, all guttural noises and bitter cries. Rune felt his hackles rise, it was a bastardized variation of his own native esper tongue. It was, it sounded a bit like-

"Massive gravitational flux detected! Everybody grab onto something quickly!" Wren suddenly shouted. He couldn't understand whatever it was that Lassic was chanting but his sensors rarely lied. To their left and to their right, on either sides of the platform an energy signature similar to that of a dimensional worm was forming. But larger. Much larger.

Staggeringly larger.

Rune realised what was about to take form. It was the same curse that had damned Lassic two thousand years ago and had trapped him in that form of living death, unable to die, unable to rest until the service of his master would be complete. When Lassic had poked a small hole in the seal he had ultimately met whatever force that lay behind it. He had sold his soul to it. Now he was going to feed Rune and the others to it and remove them from the world that way.

The heat was sucked from the room. Immediately everything went cold, went dark. A bright flash lit things up for a moment, imprinting the skeletal grin and bloody socket-eyes of Lassic into their vision. The chanting stopped and then the suction started.

The five warriors instinctively knew what to do. Rika grabbed Chaz, Chaz clung onto Wren, Wren took Rune by the hand and Rune wrapped an arm tightly about Kyra. The pressure to be sucked into those two dimensional rips was almost unbearable. Being pulled to the left and to the right simultaneously made Chaz feel like he was about to be ripped in two. His head felt like it was about to split open. He had to close his eyes because the pain was just too much for him to bear. Having Wren's arm about him was only a very small comfort, but still a comfort nonetheless.

If they got sucked into that rift they might never see each other ever again. They could fall into the giant gaping maw of some otherworldly beast. There was no telling of what might happen, honestly, but it would be okay as long as they stuck together. The five of them, as long as they remained strong then everything would be okay.

But a chain was only as strong as its weakest link. Lassic swung his halberd up and brought it down upon the cluster of his enemies. His target was, as usual, the Lutz. Rune saw the attack coming from a mile away, but the esper only had a second or two to react to it. He was caught between a rock and a hard place but if he could choose between the two the hard place might seem a little softer when compared to being bashed over the head with a rock.

Wren's hand was slicked with blood anyway, so it was hard to hang on. Rune wrenched his right hand away and shoved Kyra towards the android with his left, already sliding away from his friends only moments after he let go. Wren caught the girl and backed away one agonizingly difficult step, then the bladed staff came down in the space where Rune had once been. The halberd would have gutted him, slitting him down the front.

He had saved himself from an impaling but he might have cursed himself to an even more horrific fate. Rune watched his four friends with an amazingly calm expression as he continued to slide away. Kyra looked back in a panic. "Rune!" She cried. "Come back!"

The esper smiled and then started to laugh. At the most dangerous and deadly moment Rune somehow seemed unconcerned. His boots could garner no traction on the ground as molten lava from either sides of the room was slurped hungrily into the dimensional rifts. It was as if the fiery waters were parting. "It's alright, I'll be okay! I'll be gone for just a little-"

He was cut short mid-sentence when the gateway to darkness swallowed him alive. One moment he was there and the next he was gone, winking out of existence like a candle flame snuffing out. The remaining four warriors watched him go, Rika, Chaz and Kyra clinging to Wren as their anchor in this storm. Once it had devoured Rune the suction died down and the rips sealed themselves, taking the cold and part of the dark away with it.

They let go of one another. The magician was now gone from the world. "Rune…" Chaz said faintly, feeling a lot worse then he ever thought he would over losing the esper. He always thought that he would jump for joy and make a smart comment or two on the day that he would go, but Rune wasn't a bad person; he was just a really annoying one. He never thought he'd admit this to himself, but he'd miss him. He was on the verge of tears again because of him.

Lassic was just as surprised as the others seemed to be. He had done it! The Lutz was gone! His master had seen fit to swallow him up himself! He started to scream with wild laughter, the halberd jiggling in his hand as he giggled. With the loss of Rune the others looked at him with equally dark expressions. They couldn't give up just because they had lost one person, Rune would never want it that way.

Rika stepped away from Chaz and flexed out her claws. The blond hunter followed her example and drew his sword. It was a little splattered with Rika's blood but he tried to ignore that, it wasn't important now. Wren and Kyra no longer had ready access to a handheld weapon but they altered their stances and were prepared to activate their weapons systems or cast a spell. The battle wasn't over yet.

"I… I could cut him into a dozen pieces but I don't think it'd matter, he'd just keep coming back." Chaz muttered. That was all he was really good for, and if that made no difference then he was pretty much useless.

The boy sounded really dazed and tired. Rika felt like she wanted to cry over the loss of Rune but she'd have to do it later. Anger was the only acceptable emotion here. "If we can't shred him to pieces then we'll just have to take him out in a different manner. What else can we do?"

"He's the undead. Us espers got rid of the black wave zombies in Reshel by burning them on huge pyres, but fire might not be enough. He needs to be exorcised by a powerful magician. I was hoping that Rune would be able to do it, but he's gone now. Gods, poor Rune…" Kyra lamented softly. With Rune gone she had been upgraded into the most powerful magician in the room. Any kind of exorcism was now up to her.

"Can you do it?" Chaz demanded. He'd like to hope that it was possible but they were quickly running out of miracles.

"I don't know, that's not my area of expertise! I'm barely out of my acolyte robes, they only grant that kind of knowledge to high-level espers!" She admitted with some panic. After a moment Kyra seemed to reach some kind of inner compromise and let out a nervous breath. "I could try but don't expect much from me. I don't know what to do."

"I will offer you cover fire while you concentrate, Kyra. Chaz and Rika must evade and act as Lassic's decoys. Activating burst rockets unit. Get behind me, please stand clear." Wren said in careful monotone. It sounded like he had devised himself a plan. Well, they didn't have a plan right now anyway so that would have to do.

Panels and plates of his metal armor folded away to reveal Wren's rocket mortar cannons. A soft whining noise came from the machinery as he powered up and calculated rocket trajectories to mark Lassic as the sole target. The others stood back, Kyra behind the android with Chaz and Rika now standing at his sides. Once the fire died down against the dark magician they would attack. Kyra had her eyes closed firmly, her arms folded tightly until they were practically wrapped around herself. She was concentrating very hard.

Lassic lashed out with his halberd and would have ripped into the android like tinfoil if Wren hadn't raised a hand and caught the weapon in mid-strike, the blade slamming against the palm of his hand. His palm cracked, biting into the tough metal tendon-cables beneath. He gritted his teeth and fought to keep the attack from completing itself, while at the same time making preparations for his own attack to be completed.

Not all of Lassic's staff was made of metal. As Wren's napalm rockets fired Chaz immediately had a great idea and moved forward, bringing his sword up and slicing through the wooden shaft of the weapon. It was a tough, rich wood which met the edge of his blade, probably grown on the planet Palma two millennia ago. Still, it was only wood and Chaz sliced it like any other kind, chopping the halberd in two.

All the force in the weapon Wren was resisting suddenly fell away. Moments later charges of fire rained down upon Lassic and the magician could not spread out his heat-resistant cloak in time, burning even deeper and further than Rune's nafoi had ventured. Other charges fell harmlessly into the remaining molten lava and onto bare patches of floor. Chaz looked up, saw that he was in a danger area and the dropped into a crouch and rolled away. The patch of ground he had been standing on burst into flames seconds later.

Wren hadn't expected Chaz to jump out into the line of fire like that only seconds after he had instructed the boy to remain behind. It was fortunate that the weapon was gone but did he really have to scare him like that? "Chaz, don't be so reckless!" He scolded, annoyed.

Chaz grinned at him and Rika. He was fine. Wren didn't need to worry so, though it was sweet that he did. Lassic's scream tore through the area like a dagger through cloth, the napalm clinging to his body and continuing to burn like hot wax, like acidic fire. Brushing it off meant brushing off huge chunks of his own flesh as well. Worms and other parasites wriggled out of the affected areas and fled across his body to safer zones. Lassic hurled his broken weapon to the ground and clawed at the burns, trying to make the pain go away.

Taking her cue Rika ran forward to catch up with Chaz and together they tried to attract all of Lassic's attention and draw it away from Kyra. They had to make the girl seem absolutely invisible. Wren didn't move, blocking Kyra from the enemy's view, but he could hear her murmuring something he couldn't understand under her breath. Her breathing was shallow, she seemed distressed. "Is something wrong?" He asked without turning around.

The chanting stopped but the shallow breathing continued. Kyra stood there on the verge of tears. She wouldn't cry, not even after they had lost one of their own. She had more pride than that, but she was still panicking. "I can't do it. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. I don't know how to exorcise an evil spirit…"

Lassic picked Chaz up and threw him away, but the very moment the hunter hit the proverbial dirt Rika had smoothly taken his place. The two took turns distracting the dark magician and slowly, gradually, they began to wear him down. Lassic only had two hands, well, one now that Chaz had sliced one cleanly off. Anyway, it was difficult to keep track of them both at the same time. Wren wanted to assist but he stayed with Kyra. "Is it possible to defeat Lassic without the aid of an exorcism?"

"I don't know…" Was all Kyra could say in reply.

With a brutal cry Lassic became fed up with the continuous annoyance that was Chaz and Rika and cast a spell without the use of his magical staff, striking the two with a bolt of raw lightning. It looked like it had really hurt them, Chaz went all wobbly in his legs and then they gave out beneath him, the boy stumbling to the floor. Rika helped him up but Lassic was already raising his hand again for a second strike.

"_Tandle_, you dried up piece of shit!"

Lightning tore from above but this time it was not under the control of Lassic. It fried the parts of the zombie that were not already burnt or sliced off. Lassic screamed, the conductivity of his armor and helmet bolting the energy through his decrepit and rotting body. Somebody had cast a spell and it certainly hadn't been Kyra, the girl was standing there and acting just as surprised as the others seemed to be. They looked to the direction of that shout.

For a moment it seemed like some kind of weird optical illusion. Rune's staff and _only_ the end of Rune's staff was hovering weightlessly in the air. It was growing, the staff was, until it showed a black-gloved hand gripping the laconia alloy, then an arm. Rune was reappearing piece by piece as if he were slowly passing through a portal and coming back to the normal plane of existence. It swept through him and at last Rune was standing there at the edge of the platform, tall and proud.

Tall and proud by effort only. The poor magician was on the verge of exhaustion, but that only made his startling re-emergence all the more awesome. Rune looked like he had aged five years in the short minutes that he had been absent. Residual crackles of electricity danced about his staff as a side-effect of the spell. He was panting as if he had been through a gruelling physical workout. "You think that you can throw me into Hell and not expect me to crawl back out again? You don't know Rune Walsh very well, zombie boy." He breathed with satisfaction.

Lassic glowered at the Lutz as he tried to hold his traumatized body together with his one remaining hand. His undeath meant that he would not fade away, even if his enemies reduced him to ground meat. That was both a bad _and_ a good thing. He would never yield, and so eventually he would inevitably end up as the victor. The Lutz coming back was merely a taunt. But how had he evaded his master? It didn't make sense. Lassic refused to accept it or to even think about it.

Rika broke out into a huge, bright smile as she continued to hold Chaz up. "You're back! Where did you go?" She called. Rune looked terrible but at least he was still alive.

"Someplace I don't want to remember." Rune replied to Rika weakly without taking his eyes off Lassic. He limped forward a few steps and flashed a sharklike grin. "Look, Lassic, I've had enough of this fiasco. My friends have already done a good enough job at tearing you to pieces. All that remains is to rip your soul from that corpse you call a body. I've got something special planned for you… Just gotta do it before I pass out…" He laughed.

All of Lassic's attention was now upon Rune. Chaz, Rika, Kyra and Wren had become spectators in the battle. The dark magician's deformed face was a study in hate. "I will not die! I will reincarnate again and again! I must work for Him! As long as He exists I will continue to bring calamity to the future of Algo!" Lassic raved madly. It was not the end. It would never be the end.

Rune was calm. Even so the bandages wrapped around his forehead were staining a deep purple. He was proud. This was what the very spirit of the Esper stood for. Lassic was not the only one with eternal life, recurring life. "In that case," Rune said austerely as blue light began to shine from his weapon, "come back as many times as you like. There will always be an incarnation of Lutz waiting for you when you crawl back out of your grave. I can promise you that. Do try again in your next life, now get out of my sight!"

That voice, the way he talked, that special kind of arrogance, it was like Rune but it was not. Somewhere deep inside of him was the memory of the spirit of Noah, venerated esper of the past. He had been his bitter enemy when his heart had once beat, had saved the life of the Heroine when she had been but a squalling babe, and he had been instrumental in making that Heroine queen. A history of failures which would echo through the ages, continually unbroken. Lassic would never be able to win against the Lutz.

It was far too much for him to bear.

"_Legeon!_"

The light which flashed from Rune's staff was purifying, cleansing. Lassic was already screaming moments before the spell actually struck him, out of anger, pain and frustration. He would have to live with his failures for the rest of eternity. His flesh liquefied, his bones dissolved, his armor rusted and his robes were rapidly worn away. It was hideous to watch, but also somehow fascinating. "You fiend, Lutz!" He gurgled as he reached into his robes. "You may have defeated me, but you'll never get…"

A green light shone in his rotting hand as he raised it high above his head. He turned slightly, facing the remaining bubbling lava and bent his arm back to hurl the holy light into the fiery soup. Chaz started. That was _exactly_ the item they had been searching for. "The eclipse torch!" He shouted, alerting the others.

He realised that Rika had been missing for several crucial seconds. As Lassic raised the torch way up high in preparation to throw it Rika pounced him from behind, leaping like an acrobat and flying over Lassic's dissolving body. "Aha!" She cried triumphantly as she snatched the torch from his hand, making away with it and landing in a graceful crouch with the torch safe and intact. It was a hardy little thing and it was theirs.

Lassic could not protest the theft and the final humiliation to his rapidly ending life. His screams were becoming strangled, gurgled, just as his body was not a body anymore but a mesh of altered chemicals. The light from Rune's spell was intense, it was destroying him. With one great, final burning push Lassic was exorcised, at last banished from the world. In the end all that was left of him was a pile of dust and a few specks of rust.

And of course the horrible, horrible memories. Rune left with him, if only momentarily. He lurched forward and fell flat on his face in a faint, or merely a deep sleep. It was hard to tell.

The room became quiet and it was finally over. Lassic was gone.


	22. Voyeur

(A/N: I'm sorry! Last night I posted the full yaoi version of this without cutting it for decency. I've cleaned it up now and rendered it back to its required T level. Like before, if you wish to see all the dirty parts please visit my page on adultfanfiction dot net. The uncut version is there.)

"We've really done it… we retrieved the eclipse torch…" Kyra said slowly out loud, trying to convince herself of that almost impossible fact. She and the rest of her team were all standing around in the darkest depths of Lassic's lair save for Rune, who was lying unconscious and prone on the floor.

His staff was trapped underneath him and he was lying perfectly still. Rune really _had_ saved the day and their collective backsides in one fell swoop. There was nothing left of the dark magician Lassic apart from the finest ash scattered around the area, enjoying the same fate as his three lowly servants. All was quiet save for the bubbling of lava and the breathing of Rune's friends. Rika was the one left holding the ancient torch and it flickered with a warm and friendly glow, trying to dispel the dark.

As Kyra tried to judge whether this was a dream or not Wren knelt and checked to see whether the fallen magician was still alive. There may have been additional injuries Rune had sustained while away from his friends and lost through the gate into the other world. Visually he seemed older now, if only no more than a few years or so, causing Wren to wonder exactly what it was that the Lutz had experienced in the minutes following his disappearance. _If_ they had been minutes and not longer, he corrected himself. "He is alive and breathing, though I surmise he must be beyond exhausted." He said.

Kyra started to giggle as Wren picked up Rune, simply amazed. Honestly she hadn't expected them to actually _do_ it, merely try, hold out for a little while if possible, but inevitably fail and be defeated. The thought of them walking off to their graves had made her feel sick inside, but really what else could they have done? Wait for the black energy wave to grow strong enough and claim them? Long story short Kyra could hardly believe their great success.

Even while unconscious Rune maintained something of a death-grip on his laconian stave. Chaz peered around his surroundings and also realised the enormity of their accomplishment. Above all they had survived. None of his friends had died. For now they were back on top again. "_Wahoo_!" The young hunter shouted, leaping and pumping a fist into the air, his shout echoing and bouncing off the cold stone walls.

He was answered by a low, earthy rumble. For a second Chaz thought that maybe he had shouted too loudly and had set off some kind of chain reaction, causing something of a stone avalanche. He looked at his friends and the darkness surrounding them. Rika with the torch in her arms, Kyra pale and shaky with happy disbelief, and Wren calmly carrying Rune. The darkness and the rumbling were incredibly claustrophobic, but it was so much better than having to listen to Lassic's hysterical laughter anymore.

"Um…" He said softly, as if guilty for causing the sound. "What is that? Please don't tell me there's more…"

"Give me a moment to analyse this." Wren requested as he shifted Rune a little in his grasp. It didn't look like he was doing anything different than before, but Chaz knew that behind those grey eyes hundreds of minute calculations were being made in order to ascertain and explain the potentially dangerous situation. Chaz wasn't sure how the he did it exactly, but he trusted the wren-type's judgement.

He blinked and looked up, focussing on Chaz, and the boy knew that Wren had gotten hold of something. "Without Rune's ready opinion I am only able to speculate." He warned Chaz and the others as the rumbling kicked up a notch. "Remember that the Air Castle was partially consumed by faint rips in the time-space continuum. These rips were called into being through Lassic's willpower and magical abilities. With Lassic removed I can only assume that those rips have also ceased to exist, removing the contained matter they were projected upon with them."

"What does that mean?" Chaz asked. Anything coming from the world of quantum was completely lost on him, even if Wren seemed to be trying to explain it in terms he should be able to understand. Judging from the expressions on Rika and Kyra's faces it wasn't very good news. Rika had been educated by Wren and Seed and Kyra's magic focussed specifically on those very matters of time and space. Chaz felt kind of stupid in comparison.

"You don't mean…" Kyra said in a low tone, her good cheer replaced by dread.

"The foundation has been severely compromised. The Air Castle is crumbling." Wren concluded to the detriment of all.

The information hit them all rather hard. They were all trapped in the very bowels of the castle, even if they ran as quickly as they possibly could they would never reach the Landale in time. A huge chunk of the ceiling broke away and fell through the darkness into the lava pit, sending up a flurry of superheated molten rock. Fortunately it had been nowhere near Chaz and his company, yet it was still far too close for comfort.

Chaz nearly burst a blood vessel. In situations like these all the pressure was thrust upon him, and he had a pretty consistent record of panicking while under stress. Chaz practically fluffed up like a cornered animal and started to shout. "Oh gods, we have to do something! We're trapped! We have to get _out_ of here! We've got to escape quickly!" This was followed by some arm-flapping and desperate glances in the hopes of locating a sudden exit.

In the absence of Rune Kyra performed his duty for him and kicked Chaz in the seat of his pants. It was the only way she knew of to properly shut him up. "Calm down or you're gonna make yourself faint! We don't need that right now! If Rune's out of the question then we at least need to have you here and awake!" She yelled, now having to shout over the din of the crumbling castle. Chaz just stared at her in surprise, a hand on his backside where she had kicked him.

He still didn't seem to get it. Trust Chaz and his slow-working mind. If it had been Rune they would have been safe by now. Though, they couldn't be _too_ callous to the boy; next to Rune this day had been harsher to him than anybody else. "You can use your hinas technique to take us back to the Landale." Rika piped up, clarifying things for him.

Oh… right. Duh. In his panic he had completely forgotten about that. Well, there was time to apologise for being an ass later. Chaz held out his hands for the others to take. "Right. Everybody join hands and whatever you do don't let go!" He instructed as the floor cracked underneath him, darting like a lightning bolt through the stone. The platform wasn't going to last for much longer.

Chaz took Rika's hand and touched Wren gently on his upper arm. Wren was already holding Rune, and Kyra very firmly held onto Rika. Together they were all connected and formed something of a chain. The hunter closed his eyes and concentrated, telling himself that they needed to get out of there, and fast. He visualized the Landale. That was their safe haven and it was so close, so close…

Only Chaz and Rune could perform the hinas technique, so this was entirely up to him. The four adventurers suffered a feeling of intense displacement, the biological members of the team experiencing something of a nauseating, woozy rush. Wren's universal positioning system floundered for some moments as well, trying to re-establish where the hell it was, then it found a general bearing and Wren was able to relax again.

The hunter smiled as the pressure on his mind was released. Ooh, using that kind of technique never failed to make him a little tired. Chaz was about to sigh and open his eyes in relief when he was yanked to the side firmly, uttering a surprised squeak as Rika cinched her hand around his wrist and hauled him up along the Landale's ramp. He had forgotten that she was strong enough to do that; drag him around like a piece of flapping cloth.

The exterior of the asteroid had drastically changed, huge great fissures opening up in the already brittle stone. The bottom half of the Landale had already sunken down partly into one of those fissures, making access to the ship treacherous and shaky. Kyra had flown up to the entry hatch and had opened it for the others, letting in Rika with Chaz and Wren with Rune. Judging by the state of things they only had a few short minutes to get out of there.

The ship made a long creaky groan as it sank further and further into the fissure. There was a definite slant to the floor now; Chaz felt that if he wasn't holding onto Rika's hand he would have just slid away. Wren placed Rune a little carelessly off to the side and ran past Chaz, somehow maintaining perfect balance on his own. He went straight to the bridge and the pilot's chair of the Landale, making hasty preparations for immediate takeoff. The hunter wasn't sure what to do next except wait, but he didn't want to be thrown onto the ground during the initial pressure of takeoff.

Rune opened his eyes and groggily pushed himself up onto his knees. By checking his surroundings he realised that he was no longer back where he thought he'd be. The magician held his head as if he had a tremendous headache, but when he asked what was going on it was Chaz he turned to first. He looked sort of sick, so weak that it was hard to believe that this was the Rune which had bugged him so often. "What… what happened to Lassic?"

Kneeling, Chaz put an arm around Rune's back to keep the esper steady. Rika and Kyra had already run off into the bridge area in order to see if Wren needed some help, leaving Chaz there alone with Rune. "You fried him into ash," he reassured his friend, "you did in a couple of seconds what the rest of us couldn't do at all. Why do you always have to show off all the time? You gotta be more careful."

"I could say the same of you." Rune replied, mostly referring to Chaz's reckless behaviour in combat, but of other things also. He was beginning to truly believe that Chaz was the one that Rune had been searching for his whole life; the one who would follow in Rolf and Alis Landale's footsteps. The one who would someday wield the legendary sword, Elsydeon, but he was still not sure. He would not act until he was absolutely, positively certain.

He was also slightly referring to Chaz with Wren in mind. Rune wasn't sure that Chaz was aware of what had happened to him, but if he himself had found out so easily then who else knew about it? Rune and the boy both lurched as the Landale gave another full-bodied bump. They could only begin to imagine what the asteroid outside looked like now. Chaz clung to Rune and the esper let him, but only because he was exhausted and far too tired to shove him away.

Maybe it was because he was so tired in the first place that he was able ask this next question without much thought as to what Chaz's reaction might be. Frankly he didn't care; he just wanted to see if he was right or not. "Hey shorty, are you gay? Are you a nancy boy or something?" He asked casually as the outside world collapsed all around them.

It took a moment for the hunter to grasp the query, and when he did it was like Kyra had crept up behind him and kicked him in the pants all over again. Chaz gaped at the smarmy smirking Rune. "_Wh-what?_ Why the heck would you ask me that at a time like this? Did you leave your _brain_ out there somewhere in the other dimension, Rune?" He demanded, flabbergasted.

"Nah, I just always figured that you were. I mean, you've got Rika hanging around you practically at all hours of the day but I don't think you've even touched her once. If you're _not_ gay, Chaz, then you're the greatest idiot I or any of the other Lutzes have seen in our lifetimes." The esper explained in an a-matter-of-factly tone. Hell, he would have hit on Rika himself long ago if he had not been grieving for Alys at the time.

"So you decide to question my sexuality and call me names while the Landale is probably halfway to falling into a fissure and certain doom?" Chaz accused in sheer disbelief and indignation.

"Given the circumstances that we might not live for much longer I just thought I'd clear up a loose end and make sure I was right! There _is_ no better time!" Rune shouted over the clamour of the engines and the intense rumbling outside, coming in as vibrations through the walls. The sound had been growing steadily in volume ever since they had all leapt inside, and now it was becoming unbearable.

"If you plan on dragging somebody into a closet and doing awful things to them for one last fling before we die then go and grab Kyra instead! If you even _try_ to do anything to me then I'll stick one of my daggers right where you'd least enjoy it!" Chaz yelled right back, blushing in self-consciousness for what he had just said.

And then all of a sudden there was comparative quiet. Wren had managed to get the Landale off the surface of the asteroid and back into deep, safe space. Actually, half of Chaz's shouting had been made when all was quiet. He cringed when he heard the way that his voice seemed to carry in the hallway of the ship. "…or maybe you'd like something like that, I dunno…" He finished in a soft, dreadfully embarrassed murmur.

Rune regarded him as if Chaz had gone, well, completely bonkers. The expression on the esper's face painted a picture that was worth far more than a thousand words. "You… you think that _I'm_…" He spluttered, choking out the words. Unexpectedly he started to laugh, slapping Chaz weakly on the back. It was a riot. "Oh gods stop it Chaz, I can hardly breathe well enough as it is! Too… too tired…"

"Huh?" Was all Chaz could say.

"I'd rather screw a bladeright with halitosis than even _consider_ touching you! Your height might be contagious, I'd never wanna take the… hahaha… chance…"

Chaz was understandably insulted. "Hey, I'm not _that_ bad." He protested, frowning.

The doorway to the bridge slid open again and the two girl came back to check on Rune. They were a little surprised to see the Lutz awake so soon, held up by a slightly disgruntled Chaz. Kyra went to them immediately and pushed the boy out of the way. Rika kept her arms at her front, holding their treasured torch while also trying to hold her ruined clothes together. "That was far too close for comfort, but Wren says we're not out of the woods just yet. Are you gonna come to the bridge?"

Chaz climbed grumpily to his feet while Kyra shook Rune so hard that she may have expected candy to fall out of him if she tried. He pushed away just to make her stop, holding Kyra by the shoulders, but then she dove forward and grabbed him in a big bear hug, throwing Rune flat on his back. Chaz nudged the both of them with a boot. "Yeah, I might as well. I might get an eyeful of something gross if I stay here any longer." He remarked cheekily.

"Oh, shut up!" Rune and Kyra shouted at Chaz simultaneously. Chaz grinned, it was fun to find new ammunition to bug Rune with. The hunter left with Rika by his side and together they sort of powerwalked back to the bridge where Wren was sitting in the pilot's seat and doing, well, all the things that a pilot was supposed to do. The Lutz realised one thing moments after his other two friends had gone. Chaz hadn't actually answered his question with a simple yes or no, he had merely skirted around the issue. Huh, _that_ was something quite interesting to think about.

It was far more hectic on the bridge than back there in the sparse but somehow safe corridor. Klaxons were blaring and the little lights that were usually soft and mellow flashed angrily at Chaz as he passed by. The whole cacophony made him want to walk faster, so he did. By the time the doorway to the cockpit opened for him Chaz was almost running.

He and Rika burst onto the scene. "Alright, what's going on?" He cried, worried that they might be about to slam into a planet again or something equally unpleasant.

Wren turned his head to look behind him past the pilot's seat. He didn't seem too pleased. "We have successfully escaped the asteroid's collapsing field of gravity however the distance between us and thew Air Castle is still not satisfactory. If we cannot get far away enough from the blast zone…" He trailed off, going back to the controls of the ship.

"What? What will happen?" Chaz demanded, needing an excuse to panic all over again. If Wren didn't like it and he was the captain of the ship then it was bad for all involved.

"There will be a shockwave." Wren clarified, then something changed on his cockpit monitor and the android's body suddenly tensed up. The asteroid was exploding then and there, judging by their distance they only had a few seconds to…

"Everybody! Prepare yourselves!"

There wasn't much time to listen to him. Mere seconds after Wren had spoken a tremendous shockwave ripped through their spaceship as the Air Castle compressed itself and exploded into a magnificent eye of light. The Landale was picked up and carried like a piece of debris upon a wave, tossing the people within like toys. It felt like a nagra technique had been cast upon the ship, slamming everybody into the floor.

The entire ship shuddered with the impact. Nobody knew how Kyra or Rune handled the shockwave back in the corridor, and in the future that matter was never looked into. Upon the bridge Chaz followed his instincts and grabbed into Rika to protect her, while Rika protected herself as she was still carrying with her the eclipse torch. Wren was hurled forward and smacked his chin quite hard against the edge of the ship controls, something that would have been quite painful were he a palman..

Nobody moved until the wave carried itself out and then dispersed harmlessly into space. The bridge seemed quiet and empty for some time, until somebody on the floor groaned and the three adventurers climbed back up from the shock. Wren used the control panel as leverage and got back into his seat, checking the computer readings while Chaz and Rika disentangled themselves from each other.

"Ugh, I bumped you. Is the torch okay?" Chaz asked anxiously as he helped Rika up from the floor. No broken glass surrounded her and she still had the small bowl cradled protectively in her arm.

"Yes, it's fine." Rika answered, feeling for any imperfections in the bowl, like a crack or anything that could affect the torch's powers within. It was pretty damn hardy for an ancient artifact, the holy flame winking reassuringly at the both of them.

Wren made sort of a sighing sound in relief and then relaxed after checking the Landale over for any imperfections of its own. "Damages to the ship are also minimal. We have escaped the asteroid's pull of gravity and blast radius. I am now setting a direct course back to Tyler spaceport; Dezoris. Current mission parameters have been fulfilled."

They had done it. They won. In a sense they had achieved the nearly impossible; beaten Lassic for good this time. A huge weight simply dissolved, using the torch the path to the Garuberk tower was now ready and waiting for them. Raja and all the other victims of the black energy wave could be saved.

About an hour later after their miraculous escape from the Air Castle the mood was light and victorious, if a little tired. Most of the party had moved back into the lounge. Rika had changed out of her ruined clothes and after a brief unfulfilling shower she had put on a space, if older pair of flannel pyjamas. Kyra was busy pampering Rune with a blanket and a cup of tea, and Rune was accepting the treatment because he felt that he deserved it more than all the other bums in the room. Chaz was half asleep in a chair, the eclipse torch carefully placed away in a ventilated safety deposit box. Wren was still on the bridge, content to be on his own for now.

Rune held the cup of tea halfway to his lips, the liquid in the cup warming his hands and his spirits. Frankly he would have preferred something stronger with alcohol in it, but beggars could not be choosers way out in deep space. He yawned, trying not to feel his age in his mind, if not in his body. "Lassic… if you think about it, he was pretty pathetic. He was seduced by an awesome power and the he became nothing more than somebody's puppet."

As Rune took another welcoming sip of his tea Chaz opened one eyes from where he had been half-dozing, half-listening in. He wanted so badly to sleep but he couldn't just yet, not until they were safely back on Dezoris or until he couldn't take it anymore. Anyway, something that both Rune _and_ Lassic had said bonded together in his mind. "Enormous power? Who was the 'He' that Lassic mentioned?"

The niggling, unanswered question was born in Chaz and spread through to the others like a silent, invisible fire. Nobody really knew, not even Rune, though they all had the same guess lingering on their minds. "Was it… dark force?" Rika guessed, the only one with the nerve to say it out loud.

The four friends all exchanged glances solemnly. They had completely obliterated that evil presence on Kuran, it just couldn't be possible for it to pop up all over again. Chaz dropped the hand he had been resting his chin against down into his lap. "He hasn't been destroyed yet?" He sighed.

They just never got a break.

xxx

It was very deep into the night when the Landale came to roost in the empty Tyler spaceport. Outside the land was pitch and nearly unbearably cold, streaming with constant snow. The snow was just about the only thing which separated the night from space. They were back on the planet again but nobody left the spaceport or the ship, really, the saner approach was to wait for the sun to arise so the land would become habitable again.

Likewise the environment inside the Landale was quiet, yet warm. People were asleep in various places; Rika curled up against a newly discovered heat vent, Rune stretched out on the lounge. Kyra was somewhere else, but her audible snores could he heard echoing down the hallway. Wren still dozed in his pilot's seat, more than halfway into standby mode. Only Chaz was awake, sitting up and watching Rika contentedly while she slept.

Hours earlier he would have dropped into a slumber on command had anybody told him to, but after the shock of winning that battle his mind had awoken instead and wasn't about to quiet down anytime soon. Chaz felt that there were many things left to be addressed, and somehow the middle of the night seemed the best place to think about them. At least none of his friends would bother him while they slept.

Rika was so beautiful, Chaz thought. It was so soothing to watch her with her eyes closed and her hands curled up against her face. The boy no longer felt so guilty over watching her in such a way; he didn't quite feel like a sneaky pervert anymore. Chaz couldn't accurately pinpoint the reason why, though he guessed it was better this way. He could talk to Rika without becoming anxious or tongue-tied, yet he sort of missed the giddy heart-pounding fear/desire that had been with him scarcely a week ago.

It still existed in his heart and somebody would have to wipe his memory to make it go away, but admittedly it was milder; less urgent. Chaz wasn't going to fall into a depressive lovesick spiral if Rika didn't instantly recognise his feelings for her. Not for a while, anyway. It would be nice if she did but that would be unlikely. Hard to believe that only hours ago her body had been lifeless and dead. Chaz gave another silent thank you to Raja, whose miracle had been right up there with Rune in saving the day.

Rika had wanted to talk to him about something after Lassic had been defeated. Now that the obstacle was well behind them Chaz began to wonder what it was. He couldn't really think of anything that warranted discussion, not from her to him at least. The other way around was a totally different story, but the hunter was determined to keep that story quiet. Once bitten, twice shy, after the way the fake Rika had rejected him Chaz wasn't going to wear his heart on his sleeve anytime soon.

Of course it wasn't the _real_ Rika's fault. Chaz wouldn't want her to believe anything like that. He was just weak in some personal respects and once he had been hurt he needed time to recover. It was the same as with Wren. When the android had first kissed him and frightened him out of his wits it had taken Chaz over a week to do anything about it. Maybe he _was_ a little too slow.

Chaz thought back to the battle within the Air Castle. There was a huge chunk of misplaced time that he just could not explain. Rika had said something about him turning into a zombie and attacking her, and her blood on his hands had been the final, undeniable proof. Chaz hoped she had meant the mindless, brainless kind of zombie and not the other variety, like the ones staggering about in undead torment in the village of Reshel. The thought just made him shiver.

The hunter yawned and then pulled the zipper on the top part of his bodysuit down another inch. The heat vent that Rika was enjoying with catlike delight was sort of making Chaz feel a little too warm. He felt better as he reminded himself that life outside of the Landale was thirty Celsius below zero. His hand brushed across his neck but stopped when he felt something unusual. A forgotten wound from the last battle, maybe? He didn't remember it being made.

It was painless cut, but that was mostly because there was a distinct lack of nerve endings in that part of his neck. Chaz rubbed the wound lightly, feeling its rough imperfection. He was making it sting and he probably shouldn't irritate it so much, but Chaz was fascinated. It was as if somebody had tried to stab him in the throat, but had been stopped just in the nick of time. He certainly did not remember anything like _that_.

And the people who probably _did_ remember were already off in deep sleep. The last thing Chaz wanted to do was disturb Rika with a stupid question when she looked so cute just lying there on her own. The hunter rose and stretched, reawakening all his dozing muscles. The whole thing felt really good, even if he did ache in a few minor places. With a smile at his secret love Chaz left the room.

The lighting in the Landale was turned down and dim, giving the correct impression that it was the middle of the night. There was just enough light for Chaz to see competently and not trip over his own feet. From where he was it sounded like Kyra had fallen asleep in the ship's infirmary. Keeping a hand to the side of the wall as a safety precaution Chaz decided on his next destination and made his way to the bridge.

He went to see what Wren was up to and was actually kind of surprised to see that the android _wasn't_ busy with some task or another, or checking something out with the ship's computer. He guessed that even Wren needed a break sometimes, too. It looked like he was also sleeping, resting his head gently against the back of his seat. One arm was on the armrest but the other had slid off and was left hanging limply by his side.

Wow… when exactly had Wren slipped into the same grouping of adorableness as Rika? It must have been some time when his back was turned. Well, if Wren was off along with the others then he wasn't going to bother him either. Maybe he ought to go back and just clock off while the night still had length and size. There really was nothing better to do.

But there was that weird question of the cut upon his neck. If he laid down somewhere and tried to sleep he would wind up thinking about it for hours on end. Nobody wielded a weapon capable of making such a mark save for him. Had he fought somebody, been disarmed of a dagger and then…

All Chaz knew was that at some point during his lapse of memory he had attacked Rika and there was the chance that she may have fought back. If this wound was her doing then he guessed he deserved it, but he never wanted that scenario to happen ever again.

Chaz was tired. He really did want to sleep. He leaned forward and gently brushed his fingers through Wren's short black hair. It was quite softer than he would have expected it to be. Suddenly Chaz had a slight urge to kiss his deactivated friend, but he thought it might have been a little creepy while Wren wasn't conscious to experience it. It was just as he would have felt if he tried to kiss Rika in the same manner. It would be blasphemy.

Ironically, Chaz was not aware of what Rune had witnessed two days before. Maybe then his opinion would have been substantially different. The hunter withdrew his hand and for the first time in quite a while he subconsciously passed his fingers across his lips, then he made for the door and the exit of the cockpit. When he hit the button which made the door slide open something happened and he did not step through. He heard the pilot's chair creak.

"… Did you want something, Chaz?"

He had kind of startled Chaz, causing the boy to tense and receive a mild adrenaline boost. Chaz turned a bit, his hand still depressing the key. He smiled as he watched Wren climb out of his chair. "I thought you were out of it. Sorry for bugging you." He apologised. "You're not… touch activated, are you?"

"Perhaps I am." Wren replied, making Chaz chuckle at his enigmatic words. There had once been a time when all the android could provide were strictly black and white responses. That time was long gone now and Chaz was the only one left to blame. It made the boy's smile slightly wider. "I was not deactivated; I was merely on standby. You were not bugging me." He clarified.

"It's not important. I was just going to ask a question but it can really wait until tomorrow." He paused, a sudden thought occurring to him. "Um, we _are_ on Dezoris now, right? I didn't catch the announcement and everybody else was already asleep. I think we've stopped moving, at least."

"Given the circumstances I thought it more considerate to suspend all non-emergency announcements until after dawn. We are within the Tyler spaceport, yes. Is that the question you wished to ask me?" Wren explained and then asked politely. The hunter shook his head, taking his hand away from the door and moving to the long bench at the back of the bridge. There were some similarities in the design of the Landale's bridge to that of the ice digger. It was possible that Demi had been inspired by the original spaceship design.

Anyway, the bench had the same amount of almost-comfortableness he knew quite well from the digger. "No, it was something else." Chaz said offhandedly, and then figured that because he was already here he might as well ask. He tugged down the collar of the dark undershirt. "Do you know how I got this? I don't remember anything about a knife."

The mark was hard to discern in the dim light. Wren moved forward and sat down beside Chaz in order to get a closer look. The android put his hand to his mouth as he attempted to identify the origin of the mark. The battle within the Air Castle had been confusing and chaotic; certainly he could not have observed everything. Nevertheless he searched his memory, looking for the answer.

Chaz waited patiently as Wren thought. Normally he would have felt a little anxious being scrutinized in such a way, but with his friend he felt fine. "If it was Rika who did this you can tell me. I wouldn't be angry with her or anything. She would have just been defending herself from me." But if she had succeeded, cut slightly deeper Chaz would have had a hole in his windpipe. He knew enough about stuff like that to be aware that it could have killed him.

Wren remembered. He reached out and delicately touched the skin beside the cut. It wasn't serious and didn't require stitches, but it was still a notable mark. "It was not Rika who did this. After you wounded her you attempted to injure yourself. This mark originated from that attempt." He was completely honest with Chaz. It seemed the most sensible thing to do.

"What?" Chaz exclaimed, surprised at the unexpected answer. Wren took his hand away from Chaz's throat but the hunter held in his breath, keeping it captive. The thought totally hadn't occurred to him and it felt like his mind couldn't accept it. He, Chaz, with a knife to his own throat? Impossible. He laughed nervously. "You gotta be joking. Please tell me about it. I tried to-"

"I suppose it would be more accurate to say that Lassic tried to kill you. He merely used your hands to do it." Wren clarified softly. It didn't seem like much of a difference for him but for Chaz it seemed to calm the boy down. Perhaps he was horrified by the prospect of self-harm, but hadn't he done the very same thing the other day in the glacier? First the scar on his arm and now the slash on his throat. It was just another of the risks that his type of life forced him through.

"When he puppeteered me? After I stabbed Rika. I knew what happened wasn't my fault but I still feel awfully bad about it. I should have been able to break free of his spell. I should have been able to stop myself from doing that." Chaz sighed. This was what bugged him and was keeping him awake; a guilty conscience manifest as a wound on his throat. Once again he was dictating all his troubles to Wren instead of taking it to the proper person; his beloved Rika. Maybe his android friend should start charging him a listening fee by the hour. He'd have more meseta than he'd ever know what to do with in no time.

"Using that same logic you could say that I should have been able to prevent your stabbing of Rika, or that I should have been able to remove the knife from your hands in time. She would not have fallen and you would not be marked in such a way. Your logic is flawed, Chaz. One cannot be in control of everything at all times; even I am aware of that. Would you blame me for negligence on my part?" Wren asked his palman friend.

"No, of course not! It wasn't your fault!" Chaz exclaimed, then realised that he had exactly proved Wren's point. He smiled ironically and drooped, planting a hand on the bench between them to hold himself up. "Okay then, I'll try to stop worrying about it. Lassic stabbed Rika and then tried to stab me. I was only the medium." Another realisation came to him, his mind seemingly working in short bursts of thought. "Wait, _you_ took the knife away from me? You stopped me from stabbing myself?"

At the time Wren had been the only one with his wits properly about him. Who else could it have been? Reassuringly Wren smiled back at the boy, who appeared amazed for no proper reason he could discern. Regardless, it was quite endearing. The android gently put his hand upon Chaz's shoulder. "I could not allow you to harm yourself. No-one else had the opportunity to intervene. It was nothing special, though I am sorry for striking you in order to break Lassic's spell."

Being slapped by Wren was like being hit in the face by a frying pan. Not often had Chaz experienced something like that to draw a comparison, but there had been that one time in his childhood that he'd rather not remember. "It's alright. Better that than the alternative." He joked, pulling the zipper of his red overshirt up again and hiding the cut. It was significantly cooler in this room compared to where the others slept, so he didn't quite feel so discomforted anymore.

The next words Wren spoke sounded like they had been withheld for some time, for reasons unknown. Not even the android really knew the reason why. "I do care about you, Chaz." He admitted, subdued.

Perhaps the reason why the android had withheld those words was because Chaz's first impulse was to laugh. It wasn't to make fun of him or anything; it just sounded so sweet, especially joined by the fact that Wren couldn't look him in the eye when he said that. He was embarrassed. The android's emotions were continually becoming more complex. Chaz squashed the urge to laugh and merely nodded his understanding instead.

"I know. I really care about you too. Gods I'm tired…" He yawned sleepily. He had his answer now and his body had delivered to him an ultimatum; that if nothing else interesting was going to happen soon it was off to bed for the night. Without much thought Chaz stretched himself out on the slightly comfortable bench. Like this he could almost fit, almost, if he made a little alteration right there…

Wren watched in silence as Chaz leaned down and rested his head against his leg, practically lying in the android's lap. He could fit properly on the odd lounge now but wouldn't it have been easier to simply ask him to move? Wren would have gladly moved if he had asked. His hand that had once been on the youth's shoulder was now against the back of Chaz's neck. "That cannot be very comfortable." He commented from above.

"You'd be surprised." Chaz replied sleepily as he closed his eyes. He knew he couldn't stay here for the night and sleep was definitely out of the question, but a few short minutes here in the middle of the night weren't hurting anybody. Call it… an advance in the reward he'd get for bringing himself and his friends through the battle with Lassic in one piece. "Mm, I wish Rika would let me do this to her."

"Have you asked?" Wren inquired casually.

"Heck no, she'd probably kill me." The hunter chuckled. For a few nice, peaceful moments he relaxed, enjoying the luxury but still keeping a firm grasp upon the waking world. After a while Chaz realised with a quiet appreciative sound that Wren had begun to softly stroke his hair. It was possibly for want of something to do, because as long as Chaz was on top of him he wasn't able to move.

The truth was that this was more of an elective action than anything else. Wren wasn't sure why he was doing this, or why he wanted to do it, but he was beginning to take a more casual approach when it came to letting things go. He was learning palman reaction and enjoying it, so that was enough. This action seemed to give Chaz a greater sense of relaxation. "Would you like Rika to do this to you as well?" He questioned, keeping his voice quiet and low.

"I'd really love that, but I like this now, too." The boy breathed. If he wasn't careful he was going to drop off right to sleep. Chaz opened his eyes again to prevent that, dreamily watching the pretty lights of the Landale's main control panel. He searched his mind for something to say, hitting upon a seam. He wanted to say something, needed to _talk _again before they were all swept away into the unknown spire of the Garuberk tower. "Hey Wren?"

"Yes?"

"When the fake Rika rejected me today it really hurt. It hurt so much that I thought that my heart would just give up and burst. I guess that's to be expected, but the weird thing was that when the fake version of you also rejected me it felt even worse. The thought of losing you hurt more than the thought of losing Rika."

Wren thought about that for a bit, considering and formulating a reply while continuing his ministrations of the young hunter lying in his lap. "It is possible you were too overwhelmed by the first rejection to accept the second. Perhaps if the order had been shuffled your emotion upon the subject would be vastly different. I'm sorry, Chaz. I still have slight trouble understanding you palmans at times."

"But you're still the most insightful person I know." Chaz protested with fondness. Even if Wren was an android he still counted as a person to him, to everybody residing upon this ship. He wouldn't have become so attached to anything less. "I think it might have been because the fake you said that you were falling in love with me."

Wren stopped what he was doing. He didn't respond right away. Eventually Chaz rolled over onto his back so he could look up at his friend in the face. The hunter was blushing while Wren just looked back at him with an unreadable expression. Maybe he had said the wrong thing. "I didn't mean _you_; I meant the fake version of you. I just wanted to know what you thought about it." He asked, backing up a bit.

"You want to know if I am falling in love with you?" Wren translated, raising an eyebrow. "I am not sure if that's possible."

"Are you?"

"I don't know."

It wasn't a yes but it wasn't a no either. Wren was uncertain and even _Chaz_ could see that the question had affected him in some way. Chaz grinned. "That's okay, it was just a stupid question anyway. I should probably go back to the others and catch some sleep before it's all snatched up. Thanks for listening to me."

"I will always have time for you, Chaz." Wren promised kindly. There must have been something wrong with him. When faced with Chaz's question after the initial shock he had actually _wanted_ to say yes. Androids were never known to fall in love before so he had told the truth, but what was true and what he wanted to be true were two very separate things. The truth did not satisfy his… his desires.

His desires. Aside from his duties they were not meant to exist. Instead of getting up the normal way Chaz just rolled out of Wren's lap and flopped onto the floor. Chaz was on his feet a second later, grinning goofily. Wren didn't tell Chaz that he was acting like an idiot but the boy guessed that the thought was probably there. "Would you like to walk me to my room? In case I trip over myself in the dark?"

Wren wondered if he was referencing that time he almost tripped over a chair that night in Meese. Well, it was dark and until dawn he had nothing better to do. Wren nodded once in acquiescence and stood. "Very well. I will come with you." He said.

So they left the bridge together, Chaz carefully watching his step with Wren at his side. They didn't talk and the whole trip was no longer than two minutes, as the Landale's interior wasn't exactly as large as the outside led to believe. Chaz listened to his footsteps and the heavier clomp of Wren's boots. It was waking him up a little and he hoped the effects were only temporary.

They stopped outside of the doorway to the makeshift sleeping quarters. The hallway remained totally silent. Chaz turned on his heel and looked up at his friend, rubbing tiredly at the corner of his eye. "So I guess I'll see you in a few hours, then. What'll we be doing today?" He asked, despite being the leader and the one charged with formulating the plans in the first place.

"We will travel from Tyler back towards Meese and the Garuberk Tower. The duration of the journey will take up most of the day." That was if they left at a comparable time. A boring day with no fighting, but that was exactly what they needed right now. There was a prolonged silence. Chaz didn't go back into the room and Wren didn't turn and head back to the bridge. It could have become awkward but it didn't, for some reason Chaz could just have stared at him all night long. "Are you going?" Wren said at last.

"I suppose I should." Chaz reached behind himself and hit the button to open the door. He had to feel around for a bit because he didn't want to take his eyes off Wren. Finally he broke away and moved to leave. Maybe there would be enough room on the lounge if he kicked Rune onto the floor first. Maybe-

Chaz was grabbed firmly but gently by the arm, pulled away from the door and then spun around once so that he found himself with his back to the wall yet again. His hand slid away from the button and the door locked itself shut. Chaz looked up and was about to protest the sudden manhandling when he was further pressed against the wall, Wren's hands on his wrists and his tongue suddenly in his mouth.

At first he was surprised, but that surprise only ended up turning into extremely good, sinful feelings. Wren hardly gave him enough time to breathe and each breath was a tiny break, just enough to keep him going. Chaz was immediately wide awake, either from the shock or perhaps from the fact that he had been rendered instantly powerless. He couldn't push Wren off even if he wanted to, _if_ he ever wanted to.

Wren let go of Chaz's mouth first and then his wrists a few moments later. He stepped away and touched the side of his head in a very apologetic palman manner. "I am very sorry. I should have asked before I did that. Did I hurt you?" That had been the most reactive thing he had done since the machine centre. He just hadn't wanted Chaz to leave before he could kiss him. Rika could admit her feelings for him any day now, even tomorrow, so this could be the last chance that he'd get to touch this incredibly appealing hunter.

"Th-that was one hell of a goodnight kiss." The hunter smirked as he wiped at his mouth with the back of his sleeve. He could still feel the ghostly pressure on his arms fading, bit by bit. Aw, Wren really did look sorry, like he had done something horribly wrong. "It's okay, couples don't really have to ask about stuff like that. You didn't hurt me either. I know that you would never hurt me."

"Couples?" Wren echoed back to him. "Your statement is untrue. I _do_ need to ask."

It looked like he wanted to say something very badly. Chaz had talked all night and he didn't mind listening to Wren speak for once. He loved listening to the android talk about himself, so long as it wasn't anything that made him upset. Chaz came forward and touched his friend reassuringly on the arm. Wren took him by the hand and held it within his. "What is it?" The hunter asked.

Why had his behaviour changed so suddenly? He thought it was because of what the fake version of himself had said. The chaos sorcerers in the Air Castle had not written the scripts they had followed by themselves, the play designed to hurt Chaz and his friends had been pulled straight out of their own hearts. Wren did not have a heart but that was merely a figure of speech. It troubled him but at the same time it didn't feel so unfamiliar. If he _did_ have a heart, even if it was just a metaphysical one, perhaps it was capable of love.

But he doubted it. Strongly. Nonetheless…

"Kiss me, Chaz. Please. Let me touch you." Wren pleaded.

His pleading sent a shiver straight down Chaz's spine. That had never been requested of him before, all other times the pleading had come straight from him. Wren might have just been parroting his own behaviour but Chaz was pretty certain that was unlikely, as he watched the wren-type looking at the floor so he didn't have to see Chaz's face. It was as if he were embarrassed over saying an incredibly dirty thing. Wren was stepping out of his comfort zone just to be able to say that, which made Chaz feel flattered, almost honoured.

Chaz sighed, amused and now as awake as he'd ever been. He knew what Wren could offer him and he'd have to be an idiot to turn him down. A thought occurred to him that they shouldn't be standing out here in the corridor for anybody to see, but fortunately everybody was asleep. They'd be alright. Chaz leaned back against the cool metal wall. "Damn it, now I'm never going to be able to get to sleep." He smirked.

"There is always time for that later upon the ice digger." Wren informed him helpfully. He wanted very badly to tell Chaz about the revelation Rika was going to impart to him very soon, just to be able to get the uncertainty out of this situation. However, that would definitely mean losing Chaz to her. The young hunter already belonged to Rika even though he did not know it yet. He felt it was needlessly selfish of him to want otherwise, but that was the rub; he couldn't stop himself from feeling that way.

Chaz's voice shook him from his current stream of thought. "Well, are you going to come down here or what? I can't kiss you if you're way up there." He joked fondly, making fun of Wren's height or his own height at the same time. It didn't bother him so long as Rune was well out of the vicinity. Even standing on the tips of his toes he still couldn't quite reach.

But that problem was fixed quickly. Wren leaned over him and braced himself against the wall, while Chaz stretched himself up and wrapped his arms around his friend; initiating a kiss that was all tongue and blissful heat. Even the minor violation was a huge turn-on for Chaz, the boy gasping into the kiss as he felt Wren's hand slowly slide up under his shirts, trailing across his skin. It wasn't cold but it felt somewhat alien, only half aware of what it was doing.

Chaz had put on quite a bit of extra muscle ever since they had first crash-landed on Dezoris, from the much tougher nature of the local monsters. His abs were well defined and so was his chest, periodically blemished by faint, distant scars. This information greatly interested Wren though it had no discernable value, as if some program had been written into his neural matrix without his knowing. His thumb rubbed against a nipple and Chaz flinched, pulling away reflexively but not from the pain. It felt good.

Yet there was pain afterward in the midst of the kiss as Wren softly swept his hand lower down Chaz's side. He pushed Wren away and broke the kiss, a tiny grimace twisting his features. "Uhn… bruise… from where I was thrown in that battle…" He breathed, removing his arms from his friend. Wren glanced down and pulled Chaz's shirt up further. There was a dark patch the size of a tennis ball imprinted just beneath his ribcage. It seemed rather tender. "Just like my neck I don't have any idea how I got that…"

"I will be careful." The android reassured him, taking Chaz by the chin and tilting his head up a little, exposing the cut that did not have the potential to become a scar. The boy was curious but wasn't sure about what Wren was going to do, then he felt a hand at his belt; competently unclasping the buckle. Wren kissed the corner of Chaz's mouth, his lips, down along the jaw line and then finally ending at the hollow of his throat.

It stung, the last kiss hurt a bit as the wound hadn't begun to heal properly but it felt so incredibly amazing having the bitter pain mixed with sweet pleasure. He hadn't known such a combination was possible. Chaz flattened his hands against the surface of the wall supporting him and tried to hold his breath, attempting to contain all that he was feeling as much as possible to maximise the sensation.

Chaz had a bit of an aversion to having things pressed up against his neck. As a child he had seen enough people with slit throats to last a lifetime, hell, in that gang he had caused a few himself. It was why Chaz had been so baffled when Wren had said he had tried to slit his _own_ throat. To have a mouth and a pair of lips in such an intimate place, close to the jugular, close to where it really could hurt him was both kind of scary _and_ a relief. Chaz smiled as he thought Wren was trying to kiss and make it all better.

Perhaps Wren should have listened to Chaz. Nobody had noticed the one thing wrong with the scene, the tiny detail that had been present when Chaz had left for the bridge and absent when he and Wren had returned again. They were making quite a bit of noise out there in the corridor, well, at least Chaz was. All the boy could hear was the blood pounding in his ears and his heart. They hadn't realised that _they could not hear Kyra snoring anymore._

Kyra had woken up absolutely freezing in the middle of the night. The infirmary wasn't heated as thoroughly as the nearby lounge was and though the privacy was nice the esper girl decided that crowding was much better than catching a cold. Her footsteps did not echo on the floor; she was wearing only hushed socks. Wren did not sense her in the hallway; she wound up standing just outside his field of detection. Chaz _certainly _didn't see her there; he was preoccupied with other important things.

In short, Kyra saw a pretty big chunk of everything. She had walked out in the hallway quietly but casually and heard somebody moan as if they were in pain, or what she had initially guessed as pain. When she turned to look down the corridor she almost froze, bewildered. Kyra stared for several seconds, but then had the common sense to duck back behind the threshold of the infirmary and gawk from there. Chaz and Wren were- what the hell were they doing?

Dark blue eyes peered at them from her hiding place. They were… um… kissing and Wren had his hand down… _oh dear_…

That was awesome! Kyra had no _idea_ that something so scandalous was going on in their tiny, closely-knit little group. Wren was either molesting him, which wasn't so awesome, or it was something mutual. By the expression on Chaz's face it looked like he was enjoying it quite a lot. Kyra smiled mischievously. Did anybody else know about this? Did Rune? Did Rika?

Their parting kiss was the softest, most heartfelt. There was something special within it that went beyond mere lust.

"This time I really am going." Chaz sighed; smiling after the kiss had ended. "Goodnight Forren."

"Sleep well, Chaz." Wren replied as he watched the hunter refasten his clothes, then wave briefly and disappear into the lounge. The wren-type didn't know what drove him to do the odd things that he did, but seeing Chaz smile afterward made all the confusion worth it. He went back to the bridge on his own, in a much better mood.

Kyra was left all on her own in the empty corridor. She couldn't get what she had just seen out of her mind. She had had _no idea_ that Chaz had been up to dirty games like that, and with _Wren_ of all people! Chaz was a little too young for that. Maybe… maybe she should tell somebody about it, for Chaz's own sake of course. The esper girl's smile became devilish. What a secret, and it was all hers!

She walked back to the infirmary and lay down. It was still cold in there but she reckoned she'd wait half an hour until Chaz was asleep with the others and then sneak back in like a shadow. As she huddled up into a little ball on the sick bay recliner Kyra thought that Rika should be the first one in on this juicy piece of gossip. They were friends after all and maybe the numan girl could rationalise what those two were doing with each other.

But it would have to wait until tomorrow. She could at least hold out that long.


	23. A Pair Of Hitchhikers

The next day everybody hopped off the Landale and transferred themselves back to the ice digger, ready for the trip back into Dezoris' heartland. It was a lazy morning, indicative of a lazy, boring day, something that almost everybody needed after the night earlier with Lassic. Once they were in the ice digger and well on their way to Zosa, the first landmark of their journey, Chaz was in a corner somewhere and deep down in sleepy land, Rika was reading a book Rune had leant her, Rune was mediating in his hammock, light snores possibly giving his concentration away, and Kyra was restless and wandering.

There was going to be no fighting today. All they were going to do was recuperate. Wren left everybody in peace while he drove the ice digger for them, but he did notice Kyra's strange behaviour about the vehicle. The young esper looked like she was troubled by something, but the android did not pry. Eventually she left the bridge and went away, so Wren did not concern himself with it any longer.

When Kyra had woken up early this morning the first thing on her mind was what she had seen the night before. There was no way she was going to let her mind forget it or dismiss it as a dream, so she held onto that memory with an iron, vice-like grip. It was a secret too fantastical, too juicy to lose. Kyra could hardly believe Chaz had the confidence to have a relationship with _anyone_, but she guessed that libido and confidence were both separate things.

It was strange, though. Kyra could have sworn that Chaz had been developing deep feelings for Rika. It seemed as soon as those feelings were very slowly mirrored by Rika, however, Chaz's attention immediately went elsewhere. It went to somebody else, somebody that made absolutely no sense. Was Chaz afraid of seeing reciprocal feelings in the eyes of the woman he loved, or was he so caught up in his _own_ problems and wants that he hadn't even _noticed_ Rika's feelings for him? It was a tangled, confused web indeed.

Kyra felt like an audience watching a drama play; the only one putting the pieces together now and figuring out the story. The only real troubling question on her mind was whether to interfere. She knew that she wanted to, desperately, but what kind of results would that create? The esper girl had wandered into the bridge and watched Wren for awhile, leaning against the entranceway of the room. Wren was the one turning this star-crossed love story into a classic love triangle. He was the one tangling this web into confusion.

And now that she thought about it Kyra realised that she should have known about this much sooner. Chaz and Wren had been spending quite a bit of time together and their friendship had grown markedly too. It had only been the tip of the iceberg. She'd barely even noticed because Chaz's old roommate had been switched out and passed on to her. Rune had been keeping her rather occupied. Kyra smirked a bit at that.

So, in the end it was all very simple. Kyra needed to tell somebody. It felt like she would explode if she didn't. If Chaz and Wren were going to continue this thing behind Rika's back Kyra didn't think she could keep silent even if she wanted to. It was best that the numan girl find out now instead of later and save herself some heartache. As her friend Kyra could at least give her that.

Satisfied with her inner dialogue and happy that she had been able to turn the little devil on her shoulder into an angel, Kyra straightened herself up off the wall and left the bridge, making her way to Rika's bunker. It was her own bunker as well, more like a girl's quarters, but once she got there and stood outside the door she knocked anyway. Three short, sharp raps contrasted against the sound of Rune and Chaz sleeping in the next bunker over. Heh, lazy boys, but because of Lassic they had been worked to the bone. They deserved some peace.

From the other side of the door Rika heard the knocks. "Come in." She chimed, putting her book down.

Kyra came in. The pink-haired numan was still in her pyjamas for lack of anything else to wear, not until she had the freedom to buy a sewing kit from one of the towns and repair her outfit manually. For now her pyjamas were fine. The light blue book sitting in her lap had the title 'Ornithology of Native Dezorian Species' printed upon it in gold lead, and below that the very same title was reproduced there in esperine. It was one of Rune's books, most likely. "Hey Rika," Kyra greeted her, "what's with the heavy reading?"

"Oh, you know. After that bungle with the snow owl nest and how much trouble it caused I thought I'd learn some things about the birds around here, just so I'd never do it again. It's very interesting, but half of this book isn't in English. I feel like I'm missing out on something important." She laughed.

_You have no idea how right you are…_Kyra thought to herself automatically. She moved over to the rolled-out foam mattress on the floor and sat down beside her. Hoo boy, where to begin? It wasn't really the kind of topic you could just dive into. "I really need to talk to you about something important. It's something you need to hear." She couldn't help but smile a little, even if it was just a quirk of the lip. "About Chaz."

Rika focussed on her when she mentioned Rika's name. A bit of her smile faded away. "You know you can tell me anything, Kyra. What is it?" She asked.

"I saw something weird last night. I thought it might have been a dream but I pinched myself and I didn't wake up. It was after everybody had gone to sleep, but I have to tell somebody now so it won't just be me suspecting odd things on my own." Kyra explained, reviewing what she had just said. She shook her head at the nonsensical nature of it all. "Do you get what I mean?"

She was honest with this. "Not at all. Why don't you just tell me and try to explain it afterwards instead of the other way around? I might be able to understand you then."

"Well, what's your opinion of Chaz and Wren's friendship right now? What do you think of it?" Instead of blabbing it out like she wanted to Kyra took a more roundabout approach. She wasn't going to drop a bombshell until Rika's defences were sufficiently raised. Rika was still her friend. She wasn't going to hurt her if she could avoid it.

"In the beginning I'd say it was rather normal, but in the past week or so anybody can see they've become significantly closer. It must have been when they were trapped in the glacier together; it gave them a chance to become better friends without any of us around to interfere. I'm glad for it, really. Wren's personality seems to be growing and Chaz is much happier now." Rika informed her. She left out part of the truth as she knew it, the part about the mysterious other woman who was the _real_ key to Chaz's happiness.

"You don't find it… suspicious?" Kyra pressed gently, slightly leaning towards her friend.

"No, why? Should I be?" Not really, because Wren had promised never to tell Chaz of her feelings for him, and Rika trusted Wren. She had known him way too long to distrust her mentor.

It was time to tell the truth. Her truth, as _she_ knew it. "Rika… last night as I was going from the infirmary to the lounge in the Landale I saw Wren and Chaz out there in the corridor. They were kissing. Like, _really_ kissing. Steamy naughty daydream kissing. I really saw it, it's true."

Rika did something that Kyra didn't quite expect. She thought about this for a bit, possibly trying to visualise the scenario, then immediately burst out into genuine laughter. She was actually _laughing_! "Kyra! You- you can't be serious! That's just too funny!" She giggled, squeezing Kyra's shoulder in affection and also to prevent herself from falling over. The little blue book tumbled from her lap onto the floor, forgotten.

Kyra was surprised. She didn't believe her. "I am being serious! I really saw it! Doesn't it all make sense now? The recent friendship? They were kissing! I saw it!"

"Are you sure it wasn't just a weird dream?" Rika asked her, calming down a bit now. She was still trembling just a little from the giggles threatening to break free again. What Kyra was telling her made no sense. There was no way they could be more incompatible to one another. They were both polar opposites, the only aspect they shared being their gender. That only made it even more humorous.

"It was freezing in the infirmary. I was wide awake. Look, I swear that what I saw was true. I wouldn't lie to you, Rika. Maybe there's an explanation I don't know about right now, but I'm just telling you what I think was the truth. Chaz was kissing Wren. Pretty heatedly, too."

The esper girl looked absolutely serious. It was the look on her face that caused Rika to pause and consider, properly this time. They _had_ been spending a lot of time together and Chaz's mystery girlfriend had only popped up a few days ago, ever since the business with the Air Castle began. Speaking of that, Rika suddenly recalled the accusations of the fake Kyra made the night before. If you want to know the truth, look at Wren.

_Chaz__ is a deviant. He swings his sword with **both** hands, if you know what I mean…_

Little fragments of doubt began to worm their way out of the woodwork. They weren't connected, but they were still there. "Maybe you misunderstood what you were seeing?" Rika mused, biting gently at a nail. "Maybe it was-"

"Maybe they were rehearsing a play, or maybe Wren was giving Chaz CPR?" Kyra offered, a touch sarcastically. She smirked. "Maybe Wren just lost something of his in Chaz's pants and he had his hand down there looking for it? C'mon Rika, you're smart. You know that adding two and two together makes four. I knew you might not have wanted to hear this, but I had to tell you anyway."

"But they're both male!"

"It's not so uncommon in the worlds, actually. You'll come to realise it more once you continue to spend time in the outside world. Homosexuality isn't really accepted, but it's not taboo either." Kyra shrugged. Personally she had nothing against it; sometimes she even thought it was cute. Espers were pretty open to strange things, she guessed.

Biologically it didn't make sense, and Rika was the very nature of biology. This had gone way past being humorous, Kyra's dogged determination had seen to that. "But Wren's an android and Chaz is a palman! The age difference is... well, it's huge!" She exclaimed, and then winced. She hadn't been able to catch her hypocrisy in time. Now she regretted it.

That little slip hadn't gone unnoticed either. "I'd say the age gap between you and Chaz is pretty big too, and you're a numan and he's a palman. 'Course, I'd still say you're the natural choice, but I can't tell you what he and Wren are thinking. Not in-depth, anyhow. I'm the last person who'd know what makes an android's mind tick. Something could be there after all."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry about that; my mind just sort of blurted it out." Rika apologised. Now that she thought about it, maybe she had more in common with Wren than she'd originally thought.

However, one thing was for sure. She did not believe in Kyra's wild story; her wacky dream. It couldn't be true, even if all the pieces could fit together snugly into a picture. Rika didn't have the heart or courage to reconstruct them completely.

Kyra felt so much better after getting that huge story off her chest, but at the same time she felt incredibly guilty. The look of wavering doubt on the other girl's face was terrible. The esper stood. "W-Well, that's all I wanted to tell you. I hope I've done the right thing."

"I think you have. Better to know than not know and wander about in ignorance." Rika's smile had become wan. "Um… thanks for telling me about your dream."

She hesitated, then Kyra almost wilted. The only way Rika could accept it was as her crazy dream. That was better than nothing, she guessed. "Any time. You're my friend, you know. I'd tell you anything."

The fake Kyra had planted the seed of doubt, and the real Kyra had watered it liberally. All that was left was to wait, and to reap what was sown.

When Kyra left Rika didn't pick up her book again. She just thought about things for a very long time.

xxx

Later, once the ice digger was barely half an hour away from the town of Reshel; a town corrupted and destroyed by the might of the black energy wave, Wren noticed something unusual in the snow. As a result he slowed the vehicle down to a stop and stared into the blinding white, trying to identify the two dark blobs waving in and out of the blizzard. Rune was hanging around the bridge at that time, when he felt the vehicle slow down he placed the sock he was darning to the side.

"Eh? What is it?" The esper asked as he looked over to Wren and then the near-opaque windscreen. They were still about two hours to Meese and if they wound up in that glacier all over again anybody who fell in would just have to save themselves. There was no way he was going to catch cold for the second time in a week. He was still trying to stomp out the lingering symptoms of that last one.

Wren turned in his seat a bit to look at Rune over in the corner, the magician sitting there with a pile of loose wool in his lap. Rune had been asleep until about forty five minutes ago, and for somebody who had been sucked into another dimension the night before he looked pretty okay. Wren considered the best course of action based upon what he was seeing on the screen. "I detect two obstacles in the snow. They appear too small to be biomonsters." He realised what Rune was probably thinking. "And no, it does not seem to be another snow owl nest."

Rune thought for a few seconds and then he got up from where he was sitting. He winced and rubbed his right shoulder where he experienced a small ache. "Alright, I'll go get everybody and bring 'em up here. Let's see what the others say, though I personally think you should just run those specks over." He said, laughing softly as he left the bridge to shake everybody out of their bunkers.

Five minutes later the three missing members of their team were standing around in the centre of the room. Rika and Kyra were wide awake and interested, while Chaz was still half asleep and actually still had his blanket with him gathered under one arm. He rubbed at his eyes tiredly while everybody else inspected the screen. They weren't just blobs out there; if one squinted they kinda sorta looked a lot like people…

The Lutz had his own suspicions and Kyra held serious doubts too. If they were getting too close to infected Reshel it was entirely possible a few of the animated rotting bodies had lurched away from the town and out into the storm. After dealing with Lassic both espers felt like they had had enough of the living dead to last a whole lifetime. If they _did_ turn out to be zombies, well, the drills and the ice digger treads would make short work of that.

Kyra leaned against the driver's chair and looked at the elaborate sweep of buttons all over the control panel. She couldn't make head nor tail of it at all. Also, it felt very awkward to stand next to somebody who had been doing dirty things to her other friend and she still had to act like she didn't know. Yeah, it felt awkward, but at the same time it felt empowering. It was like; 'you think you have a secret but you don't know I know it, but I _do_. I know _everything_…'

What she said did not betray her thoughts on the inside. She pointed to the control panel as she spoke. "Hey Wren, put the high-beam lights on them and maybe we'll see what those things really are."

Wren reacted as if he had been anticipating the command. "Yes, very well." He agreed and then flipped two small switches on the panel, usually reserved for night driving. Two bright beams of light penetrated into the snowstorm, turning the two little specks into two silhouettes. One was significantly taller than the other and the shorter silhouette was frantically waving a coat at them. It was either a cry for help or a plea not to be run over and smooshed by the heavy treads.

Upon seeing those people down there Rika finally broke her silence and spoke. It was hard to stand in a room with both Wren and Chaz there at the same time and not think about how ridiculous it was, and how it made her wonder. There was nothing here to suggest some sort of connection at all. "Those poor people! They must be freezing!" She exclaimed.

"Let's just drive around them." Rune suggested as he rubbed his chin gently. Once they got back to a town he really needed the time to have a shave.

Rika turned to Rune. "We can't do that! What if they freeze to death?"

"That's not our problem." The Lutz replied callously.

Kyra poked Chaz in the side. "What do you think, sleepyhead?"

Chaz flinched and looked around like he wasn't sure what was going on. Rune had only just walked into their bunker and dragged him out of his corner by an arm, offering little to no explanation on the reason why. All he knew was that they had been stopped by something. Chaz blinked. "Huh? I don't know. What's the problem?" He asked.

Before anybody could sigh and explain it to him for a second time Wren leaned forward in his chair, analysing the silhouettes more closely and coming to an unexpected conclusion. "Oh!" He exclaimed in mild surprise. "I know them."

Four different variations of 'wha?' were heard within the ice digger. Wren had been on Zelan for the past thousand years, how could he possibly know anybody down there on Dezoris, let alone people nobody else knew about? The android was the least likely person to have friends; however Wren seemed rather sure of himself. He never would have said anything at all if he wasn't. Everybody clustered around the windscreen and control panel a little closer.

"How can you tell you know these people just from a small glimpse in the light?" Rune wondered out loud, squinting at the blizzard. He noticed something and narrowed his eyes. "… I think the short one's making hand gestures at us. Huh, I recognise _that_ one…" He grumped.

Without asking Rika went to the side door of the ice digger and opened it up wide. A sharp blast of cold air assaulted the room. Flakes blew inside. Rika curled her hand around the first button over her pyjama top to protect her neck from the cold and leaned outside of the exit door. It felt like she was sticking her head into a cold blender full of powdered glass. "_Hello_!" She cried out, her voice mostly erased by the howl of the storm. "Over heeeere! Up the steps! Come inside!" As she called this she kicked out the extendable steps leading inside the ice digger.

Rune pulled a sour face. "We're cramped in here enough as it is! Hasn't anybody ever told her never to pick up hitchhikers?"

"It might be interesting." Chaz volunteered innocently, yawning.

"Yeah, well, I'm not sharing my bunker with any more people. I have it just the way I like it. You take up too much space as it is." Rune protested, folding his arms. He looked over to the windscreen again and sighed. "Oh, great. They're actually coming in."

"How'd you know those people, Wren?" Chaz asked, curious. There was probably a lot about the android he didn't know, but it was interesting to find out. The cold wind from outside of the ice digger was waking him up anyway.

Wren smiled at Chaz, Rune and Kyra. It was one of those full, innocently sincere smiles. "It was at the bar in Ryuon. I met them there." He said.

Extending a hand Rika helped the two travellers climb on into the ice digger. They looked like a pair of snowmen, stiff with frost and leather and cold. They wound up tracking more snow into the digger but as soon as they were inside Rika immediately slammed the door shut. It began to feel a little warmer in there already. "Brrr!" She shivered, wrapping her arms about herself tightly. "That's c-c-cold out there!"

"Here, lemme help you." Chaz offered and kindly wrapped his warm blanket around Rika's shoulders, folding it about her body carefully. He and Rune had already been sick; he didn't want Rika to end up joining them. The girl accepted the blanket gratefully and then hugged him, trying to leech off his ample body heat.

The shorter hitchhiker removed his hat. Beneath it laid a bit more snow and a mop of dirty blond hair. He was a palman and sort of looked like how a person would look if Chaz and Hahn managed to have a love-child together. Somehow. Anyway, the visage was vaguely familiar to a few people in the room. "Phew! I thought we were going to die in that storm! You guys are our saviours, though I thought you were going to flatten us like a horned devil with wheelie treads, ha ha!"

"You gotta have a little more faith, Roland. There's always a tiny angel watching over you as long as you believe she's there. The very minute you doubt – poof! She's gone." Mumbled the other hitchhiker, removing his hood and coat and revealing himself to be a freakishly tall, olive-skinned dezorian. He had a pleased grin on his face, focussing on Rune who he assumed to be the leader. "Thanks for picking us up, I think you just saved us from our own foolish folly."

"Who the hell are you people?" Rune demanded suspiciously. He could sense bums on sight, and these two snowmen were certainly posteriors of the glutious maximus variety.

"Roland. I'm Roland," the palman said as he shook ice crystals out of his hair and then pointed at the dezorian beside him with a thumb, "and this great beanstalk here is Valos. We thought we could walk from Ryuon to Meese and damn the walls of ice, but it was starting to beat us down. We cleared at least one wall of ice on foot. That's our triumph." He laughed.

"We really need to stop following through on our dumb ideas when we're drunk. I know it's just best to go with the flow, but not when sub zero temperatures are involved." Valos stuck out his hand in greeting and gratitude. Rune reluctantly took it and shook. It was like shaking hands with an icicle. He was half afraid they were going to end up stuck together, like a tongue to an iron pole.

"It is not safe to travel unprotected in this storm. Travellers should remain in safe colonies until the weather lifts." Wren advised as he stood from the driver's seat and left the ice digger idling. Until he could manually alter Dezoris' climate he did not want anybody to perish on account of the storm.

Upon hearing his voice Roland noticed their driver at last. He grinned. "Well, look at that! It's that guy from the bar! Hello Wren, didn't expect to see you here in the middle of nowhere. Out on business or something?" He had never expected to see that android again. It was like one of those 'once in a lifetime' things that you tell to your grandkids someday, or a bunch of other guys in a different bar. Either one was okay.

From over the top of Rika's head Chaz almost recognised the other palman. Wasn't he that guy from Ryuon the night after they had killed Lassic's three servants? The one he had been slightly jealous of, as silly as that sounded right now. He had no idea who the dezorian was, but then again besides Raja all dezorians looked the same to him anyway. Chaz broke the hug with Rika now that the girl seemed significantly warmed up. "So, um, where are you headed?" He asked.

"Didn't they just tell us that, Chaz you dummy?" Kyra replied before anybody else could, cheekily. She liked the idea of having new people around, apart from Rune everybody else on the digger was a little too awkward to talk to right now. She'd welcome anybody who could help change the subject or distract herself from the guilt of telling Rika the truth.

"Hey, does that mean you're going to give us a lift?" Roland asked hopefully, looking imploringly at Rune and then Wren.

"No." Said Rune.

"Yes." Said Rika.

But Wren was the driver and technically the ice digger belonged to him. He would be obliged to offer these two travellers a ride to safety were the decision solely up to him, but he was not the leader of this entourage. He looked to Chaz obediently for a decision or for advice.

Chaz had a rather pure, if simple view of things. If he were about to freeze in a blizzard and then find himself saved the next moment he'd beg and plead to _stay_ saved and safe. These two travellers seemed like good people, if a little eccentric. There was no harm in letting them tag along until they reached their next destination. Rune would have to just put up with it. Chaz didn't mind _that_. "Aw, the more the merrier. You can ride with us to Meese, just don't be too much of a nuisance, okay?"

As Rune scowled Rika and Kyra appeared pleased, but that didn't match how relieved Roland and Valos seemed to be. It looked like somebody had just shot the hangman's rope in two as they stood on the gallows, waiting. Valos pumped Rune's hand up and down like a piston. "Much obliged! Much obliged! We will pay you all back someday! Say, do you have something nice and warm to drink?"

"Even hot tap water would do at this point…" The dark-blond palman mumbled tiredly.

Rika became the soft hand of philanthropy. She smiled kindly at them and took Roland by the elbow. "Come with me. I think we might still have a bit of cocoa left, and if not there's always some tea. I'll go make it for you." She offered.

"I'll come with you." Chaz said a moment after, quickly. It wasn't that he was thirsty as well; it was because he didn't want Rika alone with two strangers he barely knew. They could be dangerous, and if they were Chaz wanted to be around to protect her. No amount of misdirected attention would stop him from caring about something like that.

For her own worth Rika was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, armed or not, but she didn't mind any extra attention Chaz chose to give her. Those two could also do with some warming up, so hopefully they had some extra blankets packed up around the digger somewhere. "Okay then, everybody follow me." She instructed and the two palmans and one dezorian followed her out of the bridge and into the corridor, leaving a little trail of melting ice and water behind them.

Once they were gone from the bridge and silence descended once more Rune's shoulders drooped and the esper expressed a sigh. "Didn't her mother ever tell her never to pick up hitchhikers? They'll eat all our rations, stink up the place and probably wind up knifing somebody in the end."

"I never really knew my mother. The esper mansion took me away from her when I was really little." Kyra mused, speaking with a lack of sadness suggesting she was never very troubled by this fact.

"Yeah, me too." Rune added with equal casualness.

"I also do not have a mother." Wren contributed to the conversation as he got back to driving the ice digger through the storm. Everything lurched for a second as motion continued with the treads below them. Meese was not very far away.

"Huh, now that's interesting. Rika doesn't have one either and I'm not real sure about Chaz. Is it a prerequisite to be on this journey or something? I guess it could make us a little tougher than most, I suppose. What do you think, Rune?" Kyra questioned him.

The Lutz just shrugged. It wasn't important. "I think I want to get off this damn digger and in front of a fireplace as soon as possible." He groaned.

Kyra sidled over to Rune and stretched an arm around his shoulders. "Like, a warm fireplace in a private room away from all these loveable, yet amazingly annoying people? Can I come? I won't be _that_ annoying. I promise." She suggested, speaking in a softer tone than usual.

Rune looked down upon her at his side, smirking. That might lift his spirits a little. Just a little, mind you. "Hm, let's wait and see. I have nothing else to do today."

"Sounds good to me." Kyra laughed. She wasn't quite a giggling or tittering girl. That was one of the things he liked about her.

"I happen to still be in the room, just so you know." Wren interrupted without looking away from the windscreen and his driving. He didn't need to look around to know that Rune and Kyra had flinched. People tended to forget he was there if he remained silent long enough. The android shifted the digger down a gear. "It is best to keep that kind of discussion private."

Instead of feeling embarrassed Kyra actually felt… better, somehow? Maybe if he knew one of her secrets it didn't mean so much to know one of his. "Ooh, you rat fink!" She scolded and dashed over to him, leaning over the driver's seat and thumping him gently on the head. "You were eavesdropping! You'd better not go spreading any rumours now!"

"It is not in my nature to talk about people unnecessarily, Kyra. … Could you please stop hitting me? I am trying to drive." Wren asked politely.

"Don't worry about him; he's not going to talk." Rune reassured Kyra as he carelessly tossed his ponytail over one shoulder. He extended his arm out to her. "Let's go have a discussion in _private_ then, there's nothing interesting to do in here except stare at the wall."

So shortly after that they were gone too and the bridge was left empty. Mostly empty, anyway.

The journey continued on.

xxx

Scarcely ten minutes away from their destination Wren was attacked, and not safely outside of the ice digger where he could easily use the exterior napalm cannons. It was an attack from behind, nearly causing him to lose his control of the steering wheel by pre-programmed reflex alone.

Roland's feet didn't create an echo on the metal floor, he had removed most of his heavy insulating clothes and his boots after that pink-haired angel had given him the best mug of cocoa he'd had in years. Valos was still in one of the back bunkers talking with the other ones, but Roland had a short attention span and got bored easily, besides, there was an utterly serious reason why he had to get to Meese on time.

He snuck up on Wren quietly and then attacked him from the side, throwing his arms around his friend with a small shout designed for surprise. Wren reacted rather well considering the unexpected shock. His hand immediately slipped from the steering wheel and activated the advanced autopilot, paired with the GPS that would lead them safely to Meese on its own. They'd just better hope there'd be no more hitchhikers in the path, or else that was just way too bad for them.

Wren managed to place an arm between himself and Roland in order to keep the palman away. The dark blond had a mischievous grin on his face. "What on Dezoris is wrong with you? You could have made us crash." Wren accused calmly, but there was an edge of slight anger underlining his tone. He didn't want to be responsible for killing all his friends pointlessly.

"Wow, listen to you! I see you've been trying to kick the dictionary talk. How's that going for you?" Roland asked, genuinely curious. He remembered Wren from the bar, but this same android seemed a little different somehow. It had only been a handful of days but this could only be chalked up to Valos and his own good advice.

"It… is not something I seem to be able to control. The more time I spend with people and the more dialogue is exchanged my speech patterns are adjusted accordingly. This is merely the product of my time spent on Dezoris and the interactions of its inhabitants." Wren said, slowly pushing Roland away from him. It was probably why Demi had such an interesting vocabulary at times, after all the years working on Nurvus and Motavia.

Roland allowed himself to be pushed away, standing and shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. "That's still good. Thanks again for not running us over, by the way."

"That was Chaz's decision."

"Say, whatever happened to that lady you were talking about the other day? Your little sweetheart? Did you manage to get any?" Roland asked casually, proving that he was an utter stranger to tact. He watched Wren look away from him and focus back on the snowy white road, removing the autopilot now that he was not in the process of being assaulted. A thought came to the young palman. "Was it that cutie with the pink hair, or the feisty tomboyish one?"

No, no, it wasn't even a woman at all. Roland was way off the mark. Before the android could say anything, however, Valos strode back into the bridge. Chaz was following beside him in amusement. This dezorian certainly had some interesting tales. "Are we there yet? Valos just told everybody the reason why they were travelling in the storm. He says his buddy's sister was hit by the black energy wave. He wants to go see her and make sure she gets better."

"Now why would you go and tell a story like that?" Roland accused his friend with a weak glare, folding his arms across his front. It sounded like he thought it was a story that wasn't worth telling.

"They did save our lives. I thought they deserved to know the reason why we decided to risk them. Mellow out, Roland. These are some good people." The dezorian replied peacefully, with serenity like that of a sage.

"We will be at our destination in just under two minutes." Wren answered Chaz. The weather was beginning to let up a little, though not by much, and they could just vaguely see a long brown smear in the distance at the foot of the mountains, growing larger as time went by.

Rika, Rune and Kyra showed up in the bridge one after the other, so the entire population of the ice digger was now in one room. Rika pulled the long coat Valos had leant her tightly around her pyjamas. "I really need to find a tailor then I can't wait to tell Raja about everything we've done! He'll be so proud of us."

"I guess I'll go book some inn rooms for everyone." Rune volunteered, scratching his head. While he was at it he'd made sure to organise something special just for himself.

Then the fantastic idea struck. Roland threw one arm around Chaz and the other around Rune. With his arms outstretched his undercoat fell open, revealing on his belt a rather impressive collection of knives. "Hey! You know what? Why doesn't everyone come on down to the Meese bar after dark and we can pay you back for the lift on this thing? Drinks will be on us all night long. What do you say?"

Rune warmed up like somebody had lit a fire beneath his boots. He pulled Roland towards him in what was almost a headlock. "I take back every bad thing I've said about you. I'll definitely be there to collect." He declared.

"Me too!" Kyra agreed.

"I'll join in if I can get something non-alcoholic." Rika smiled.

"I don't wanna be the odd one out tonight." Chaz commented as he pried himself free of the other palman's grip. He rather enjoyed their evenings together having fun. It was a nice counterpoint to the fighting and the danger.

At last the ice digger rolled to its final halt for the day. Wren put on the handbrake and switched off the ignition. The rumbling stilled and everybody noticed the change. He stood from his seat and faced the others, laying an arm on the headrest of the chair. "We have arrived. The outskirts of the village are three hundred meters from our current location. Shall we depart? Also, I will come with you this evening. I don't want to be on my own." He said.

"All right, let's go."

"Ugh, but it's going to be so _cold_ out there…"

"You can stay on the ice digger if you want, you sissy."

"Shut up, Rune."


End file.
